Unemployment rate in Malaysia drops to 3% in April 2025, lowest recorded rate in the last decade

The month also saw an increase in the number of employed persons, with a rise of 0.2% to 16.82mn persons compared to 16.78mn persons in March.

Malaysia's Department of Statistics has released its Labour Force Statistics for April 2025, revealing that the rate of unemployment for the month has decreased to 3%, the lowest rate in 10 years, with 525,900 unemployed persons. 

Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, Chief Statistician Malaysia, commented: "A promising country’s economic position has contributed to stable progress in Malaysia’s labour force during the month, with an increase in the number of employed persons and higher labour force participation rates, while unemployment continues to decrease.

"In April 2025, the number of labour force continued its upward trend, increasing by 0.2% to 17.34mn persons (March 2025: 17.31mn persons). Consequently, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 70.8% (March 2025: 70.7%), indicating more labour participation in the market.”

Here is a breakdown of the report findings: 

Employed persons

The number of employed persons saw an increase in April 2025, with a total of 16.82mn persons recorded — more than that from the previous month (16.78mn) as well as the year before (April 2024: 16.36mn).

Commenting further on the employment trends, the Chief Statistician emphasised that the employees’ category accounted for 75.1% of the total employed persons. This category experienced a 0.2% increase, reaching 12.63mn persons in April 2025, compared to 12.61mn persons in the previous month. Similarly, the number of own-account workers edged up by 0.6% to 3.16mn persons, as against 3.15mn persons recorded last month.

In terms of sector, employment continued to rise across all major economic sectors. The services sector led the growth, particularly in wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food & beverage services, as well as transportation and storage. Increases were also recorded in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and mining & quarrying sectors.

Unemployment

In April 2025, the number of unemployed persons was lower than that of the previous month (March 2025: 529,600 persons) as well as in the previous year (April 2024: 556,500 persons).

Furth, April's unemployment rate fell to 3.0%, the lowest rate in 10 years.

Detailing the unemployment situation in April 2025, the Chief Statistician shared the following insights:

• Actively unemployed individuals — those available for and actively seeking work — made up 79.6% of total unemployed persons. This group declined slightly by 0.5% to 418,600 (March 2025: 420,700).
  • Of these, 64.2% had been unemployed for less than three months.
  • 5.3% were in long-term unemployment, having been jobless for over a year.

• Inactively unemployed individuals — those not actively job-hunting as they believed no jobs were available — also decreased by 1.5%, totalling 107,200 (March 2025: 108,900).

As for youth unemployment:

• The unemployment rate for youth aged 15–24 remained steady at 10.3%, with 2983,000 unemployed (March 2025: 299,700).
• The rate for youth aged 15–30 dropped slightly to 6.2%, with 400,600 unemployed (March 2025: 6.3%; 399.400).

Labour force

In April 2025, the number of persons outside the labour force rose by 0.2% to stand at 7.17mn persons, as compared to the preceding month (March 2025: 7.16mn persons). The major composition of the outside labour force was housework/ family responsibilities accounted for 43.7%, followed by schooling/ training reasons at 41.1%.

Additionally, the country’s labour force is anticipated to remain optimistic and expand in the coming months of 2025, bolstered by strong economic policies and stable domestic demand. Despite the global geopolitical tensions, Malaysia’s labour force is seen to remain resilient due to stable unemployment, the growing services sector and technology, as well as an increasing investment in digitalisation and automation.

In a separate statement, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Tengku Zafrul, expressed optimism towards Malaysia's wider economic growth in a Facebook post, highlighting Malaysia’s strong investment performance in Q1 2025. He shared that RM89.8bn in investments were approved during the quarter— a 3.7% increase compared to the same period last year, reflecting investors’ continued confidence in our country’s clear policies and long-term economic prospects. He added that the approved investments are expected to create over 33,300 new job opportunities for Malaysians.

"Furthermore, the increase in the Management, Technical, and Supervision (MTS) index from 44.2% in Q12024 to 46.3% in Q12025 is a clear indicator of the country's success in creating high-skilled jobs and decent-income."

READ MORE: Malaysia’s labour force reaches 17.23mn in Q1 2025, with unemployment rate stable at 3.1%

Infographics / DOSM and Tengku Zafrul's Facebook