KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): Malaysia's unemployment rate fell to 3.3 per cent in February 2018, down 0.1 per cent from the previous month, said the Department of Statistics (DoS).

On year-on-year (y-o-y) comparison, the unemployment rate in February 2018 was also 0.2 per cent lower than a year ago, according to the February 2018 Labour Force Statistics report released today.

The DoS said the number of labour force increased 0.3 per cent in February 2018 to 15.23 million from 15.19 million a month earlier.

On the labour force participation rate in February 2018, the department said it remained unchanged at 68.2 per cent compared with that of the previous month.

"On y-o-y comparison, the labour force participation rate in February 2018 increased 0.4 per cent from the same month a year ago," it said.

It added that 31.8 per cent, or 7.11 million of working age population (15-64 years), were outside the labour force in February 2018, up from 7.07 million in the previous month.

"The group comprised housewives, students, retirees and those who were not interested to work," it said.