Unemployment rate down to 3.4% in June 2023

Employment in the services sector remained on an upward trend, mainly in food and beverage services.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 3.4% in June 2023 from 3.5% recorded in the previous month.

This is according to the “Statistics of the Labour Force” for June and the second quarter of 2023, released by the department of statistics today.

Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said the number of unemployed had been reduced to 581,700 from 584,600 people previously.

He said Malaysia’s labour market remained stable in June, contributed by the continuous increase in the number of employed persons.

“The number of people in the labour force in June 2023 strengthened further by 0.2% to record 16.89 million from 16.86 million persons in May,” he said.

Uzir said June’s labour force participation rate was unchanged at 70%, as recorded last month.

Uzir said employment in the services sector remained on an upward trend, mainly in food and beverage services, wholesale and retail trade as well as transportation and storage activities.

The number of employed persons in the manufacturing, construction, mining and quarrying as well as agriculture sectors also showed increases during the month.

The inactively unemployed, or those who believed that there were no jobs available, registered an increase of 0.5% to 114,800 persons from 114,200 persons previously, he said.

The unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 24 in June remained at 11%, recording 312,400 unemployed youths from 313,000 previously.

The unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 30 declined by 0.1 percentage point to record 6.9%, with the number of unemployed youths at 446,800 from 448,600 persons previously. - FMT