PETALING JAYA: The number of unemployed has been reduced to below 700,000 in November, the lowest since April 2020, according to the statistics department.
Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour force situation in November held steady with continuing employment growth.
He said the reducing number of unemployed followed the revival of more economic and social activities.
“The overall vaccination rate is increasing while the number of daily Covid-19 cases continues to decline. These encouraging circumstances also resulted in more travelling activities, domestic and abroad, during the month, hence influencing the labour market in November,” he said in a statement.
“Malaysia’s labour force situation has been picking up gradually since August 2021 as most economic and social activities were operating as usual in accordance with strict SOPs.”
The continuous operation of these activities may also create additional jobs in the upcoming months, he said.
Uzir also said the number of employed persons had continued to increase for four consecutive months, with an increase of 0.4% month-on-month, recording 15.61 million persons in November.
The employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.2% from 65.8% in October to 66.8% in November.
He said the unemployment rate in November was 4.3%, unchanged from the previous month.
The number of employed persons in the services sector continued to increase, especially in wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages, information and communications, and transport and storage.
A similar trend was observed in the manufacturing and construction sectors while employment in agriculture, mining and quarrying sectors continued to decrease.-FMT