Unemployment down 3.4pct in October

The number of unemployed in the country dropped by 3.4 percent to 705,000 in October from 729,600 the previous month, following more economic activities being allowed again, according to the Malaysia Labour Statistics October 2021.

A report issued by the Department of Statistics stated that the number of residents working in the country increased by 0.6 percent from month to month to 15.55 million in October compared to 15.46 million in September, with the labour force to population ratio at 03:65.8 percent.

The number of workers rose by 0.4 percent in October to 16.26 million from 16.19 million in September, while the labour participation rate in October increased by 0.2 percentage point to 68.8 percent compared to 68.6 percent in September.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement today said the country’s labour force situation improved in October due to many of the states having transited to Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan following the increase in vaccination rates and declining number of Covid-19 daily cases.

“This positive development resulted in the reopening of economic activities and cross-state travel allowed.

“Besides that, many tourist destinations were allowed to re-open to fully vaccinated visitors, thus boosting travel and domestic tourism activities during that month (October),” he added.

On the unemployment situation last October, Uzir said the active unemployed or those who were willing to work and actively looking for a job comprised 83.6 percent of the total number of unemployed, with this group down by 3.5 percent to 589,500 from 611,000 in September.

Out of the active unemployed, 55.5 percent were those who were unemployed for less than three months while the long-term unemployed were jobless for over a year formed 7.8 percent.

Uzir said the rate of unemployment among youths aged 15 to 30 declined by 0.4 point percentage from month to month from 8.5 percent in September to 8.1 percent in October.

- Bernama