Talent & Tech Asia Summit 2024
human resources online

Malaysia's semi-skilled labour dominated trends in Q1 2019

Malaysia's private sector saw an 82,000 increase in the number of job positions, totalling the number of positions to 8.549mn (Q1 2018: 8.468mn). At the same time, the number of job vacancies stood at 201,000, with 23,000 jobs created.

These statistics were reflected in the Department of Statistics Malaysia's latest Employment Statistics First Quarter 2019.

Semi-skilled labour demand made up 62.3% of positions in Q1

In that quarter, the semi-skilled category of workers made up the majority of positions distributed by skills at 62.3% (Q1 2018: 62.2%), while those in the skilled category remained at 24.3% (2.08mn).

On the other hand, the low-skilled category recorded 1.141mn positions (13.4%), a slight dip from 13.5% year-on-year.

Skilled and semi-skilled vacancies recorded at 2.2%

The rate of vacancies recorded in both the skilled and semi-skilled categories of labour in Q1 2019 was at 2.2%, while it was 3.4% for the low-skilled category.

The number of vacancies per category, from highest to lowest, was as follows:

Semi-skilled: 116,000 (57.6%)Skilled: 47,000 (23.3%)Low-skilled: 38,000 (19.1%)

Semi-skilled labour dominated number of jobs created

As with the number of job vacancies and positions, the semi-skilled category also contributed the highest number of jobs created in Q1 2019, at 49.1%.

The skilled category followed behind, recording 44.9% and last, the low-skilled category fell far behind, at 6%.

View the accompanying infographic below

Priya-July-Employment-Statistics-First-Quarter-2019-2

Lead image and infographic / Department of Statistics Malaysia

Follow us on Telegram and on Instagram @humanresourcesonline for all the latest HR and manpower news from around the region!

Related topics

Free newsletter

Get the daily lowdown on Asia's top Human Resources stories.

We break down the big and messy topics of the day so you're updated on the most important developments in Asia's Human Resources development – for free.

subscribe now open in new window