KUALA LUMPUR (June 16): The unemployment rate for April dipped by 0.1 percentage point to 3.4% from a year ago, and remained the same compared to March; but, the number of unemployed persons rose 0.2% to 511,900 month-on-month, and inched up 0.07% year-on-year.

Unemployed persons are those without a job but are interested to work, and often made up of graduates.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department of Malaysia said employed persons for April increased by 1.9% to 14.43 million from 14.16 million last year, and were up by 0.05% from 14.42 million in March this year.

Overall, the labour force climbed 1.8% to 14.94 million versus 14.67 million last year, and 0.06% from 14.93 million in March.

The labour force participation rate in April made up 67.7% of the overall labour force in the month while 32.3% represented those outside the labour force, said the department.

"They include housewives, students, retirees, disabled persons and those not interested in working. Compared to April last year when 7.01 million persons were outside the labour force, the number grew 1.6% to 7.1 million this April," it said.

Unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in January and February this year, before reducing to 3.4% in March.