KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): The labour market is on a steady path to recovery with the unemployment rate in the country showing a downward trend with only 600,900 persons in November 2022, compared with 602,000 in October 2022, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 10) said the unemployment rate remained at 3.6%, claiming the positive outlook was because of the development of current economic activities in the country. 

“In November 2022, the labour market further strengthened in line with the development of current economic activities. Thus, the labour force situation continued to expand during the month, with an increase in the number of employed persons, while the number of unemployed persons dropped,” he said.

He said the labour force kept increasing in November 2022 with an addition of 0.2% month-on-month to 16.71 million persons, compared with 16.68 million in October, while the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to register 69.8% (October 2022: 69.7%).

“At the same time, the number of employed persons continued to increase by 0.2% month-on-month to 16.11 million persons (October 2022: 16.08 million persons),” he said.

He also said that the employee's category, which covers 75.8% of total employed persons, continued to record 12.21 million persons, an increase of 0.1% in November 2022 from October 2022's 12.20 million persons, adding that the self-employed categories were also on an upwards trend, with an increase of 0.5% to 2.85 million persons. 

“In terms of the economic sector, the number of employed persons in the services sector continued to increase, especially in wholesale and retail trade, food and beverage services, and information and communication activities. Similar trends were also observed in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture, mining and quarrying sectors,” he said. 

Mohd Uzir noted that during the same month, the unemployment rate of youths aged 15 to 24 edged down by 0.2% to 11.9%, recording the number of unemployed youths at 329,300 persons in comparison to 337,200 in October 2022. 

“As for the inactivity group, the number in the foreign labour force continued to decline with a reduction of 0.02% to 7.24 million persons (October 2022: 7.24 million persons).

“The main reason for [being] outside the labour force was because of housework/family responsibilities with 43.1%, followed by schooling or training with 41.3%,” he said. 

The head statistician also said the operation of all economic and social activities until the end of 2022 allowed the nation’s economy to grow rapidly, providing optimistic expectations of  a steady recovery in the labour market in line with current positive economic developments, especially in early 2023.