Statistics Department denies ‘2.05m unemployed’ claim

The Statistics Department has denied making the widely-circulated claim that 2.05 million Malaysians have become unemployed.

It said it has published its labour statistics up to March this year, which showed that as of the latest figures, some 610,500 people are unemployed compared to some 521,300 people in March last year.

For the record, these figures correspond to an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent in March 2020, which are the highest since June 2010.

The figures for April 2020 are expected to be released on June 15.

The department was responding to an infographic that had been circulated on social media platforms as well as the messaging services WhatsApp and Telegram.

The image quoted the Statistics Department as supposedly saying that the number of unemployed people had hit a historic high of 2.05 million people.

It also accused the “backdoor” Perikatan Nasional government of allocating appointments in government-linked companies and agencies to PN politicians while ordinary folk are losing their jobs.

The Statistics Department said it had not issued such a statement and urged people to cease sharing the infographic immediately.

“Members of the public ought to be careful and not use the Statistics Department’s name on unofficial statistics or statistics they have calculated themselves,” it said in a statement today. - Mkini