Malaysia’s unemployment rate continued to show a downward trend, recording 3.8% in June — the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the number of unemployed decreased to 630,600 in June, from 637,700 people the previous month.
Citing the June 2022 Malaysian Labour Force Statistics published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mustapa said the country had reached full employment since April, in terms of the unemployment rate being below 4% as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Therefore, he said the position of the labour force was more stable following an increase in the number of workers of 0.2% to 16.57 million people, compared with 16.54 million people in May. The labour force participation rate in the month remained at 69.5%.
“The achievement of the labour market in June was in line with the current stronger economic activity, following the transition to the endemic phase [of Covid-19] across the country. “Demand for labour has increased, opening up more job opportunities in the market,” the Minister said in a statement. He said some key economic indicators also showed an encouraging performance, such as the volume of trade, which increased by 43.4% in June to a new high of RM270.4 billion, with exports recording an increase of 38.8% to RM146.2 billion.
Datuk Seri Mustapa added that the industrial production index grew 12.1% in June, the highest since May 2021, with all components recording positive growth. In addition, the sales value of the manufacturing sector in June increased by 23.4%, also the highest since May 2021, recording a sales value of RM153.5 billion, the minister said, adding that the achievement was mainly driven by the electrical and electronics equipment sub-sector, which increased by 25.4% in sales value. Looking at this development, Datuk Seri Mustapa said he is confident that Malaysia’s gross domestic product growth will hit the target of 5.3% to 6.3% this year. “The long-term trend of the national unemployment rate is around 3.4% (the average for 2011 to 2021). “Taking into account various key economic indicators that reflect better recovery momentum and expectations that more job opportunities will be created, the unemployment rate is expected to move to a long-term trend,” he added.
The Edge
