Malaysia's labour force increased to 15.61 million in April 2019

From March 2019 to April 2019, Malaysia's labour force increased by 0.4% to 15.61 million people. When compared to the April 2018, this represents an increase of 2%. This was according to the latest insights from Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM).

However, the data showed that labour force participation rate has remained at 68.5% since February 2019, only increasing by 0.3 percentage points as compared to April 2018 (68.2%).

Similarly, while there was a 0.4% increase in the number of unemployed - from 521,300 in March 2019 to 523,300 in April 2019 - unemployment (seasonally adjusted) rate in April 2019 remained at 3.4% for the two consecutive months.

The data further revealed that the number of people outside the labour force increased 0.2% - from 7.17 million in March 2019 to 7.18 million in April 2019. Year-on-year, the increase was slightly higher at 0.7% - as compared to 7.13 million in April 2018.

Additionally, from March 2019 to April 2019, the number of people employed increased by 0.4% - from 15.04 million to 15.09 million. When compared year-on-year, the increase was 1.9% (from 14.80 million in April 2018).

Infographic / Department of Statistics, Malaysia