share on
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons continued to decline at -0.3%.
Malaysia's labour force showed steady improvement in July 2024, largely driven by the continuous economic growth that encouraged robustness in local businesses and rise in export product demand.
Breaking it down further, the number of employed persons recorded a continuous upward trend for the month, with a growth of 0.2% (26,300 persons). This brought the total to 16.63mn persons. For comparison, June 2024 recorded 16.61mn persons. Seasonally adjusted numbers also showed a 0.01% increase in employment.
By economic sector, the services sector saw continued growth in the number of employed persons, largely in food & beverage services; wholesale & retail trade; and transformation & storage activities. Similarly, the manufacturing, construction, mining & quarrying, and agriculture sectors also registered positive growth in the number of employments.
Additionally, the employment-to-population ratio, which is indicative of the ability of an economy to create employment, also grew by 0.1p.p to reach 68.1% from 68.0% the previous month. On a year-on-year comparison, the ratio improved by 0.4p.p from 67.7% registered in July last year.
Other highlights include:
- The total number of employed persons was largely made up of the 'employees' category, with a share of 75%. This was followed by 'own-account workers' at 18.5%.
- The number of employed persons who were temporarily not working during the month fell by 2.7%, or 2,200, to record 77,200 persons.
Unemployment rate remains steady from previous month
The number of unemployed persons continued on its declining trend in July 2024, with a dip of 1,600 persons. This translates into a 0.3% decrease, from 565,300 persons in June 2024 to reach 563,700 persons. That being said, the unemployment rate during the month remained at 3.3% as in the previous month. In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed persons rose by 0.7 %, with an unemployment rate of 3.2%.
Looking at the yearly statistics, the number of unemployed persons fell by 2.7% (15,500 persons) compared to 579,200 persons recorded in July 2023. The unemployment rate also declined in tandem, with a dip of 0.1 percentage points (p.p) as against 3.4% in the same month of the previous year.
For a better understanding, a majority of the total unemployed persons were those who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs or the actively unemployed (80%). Of those who are actively unemployed, 61.5% were those who were unemployed for less than three months. Interestingly, the inactively unemployed or those who believed that no jobs were available went down by 0.4%.
Labour force participation rate (LFPR) held steady
As a whole, the number of labour force in July 2024 continued its positive growth, having increased by 0.1% (24,600 persons) month-on-month. The total recorded stood at 17.20mn persons (June 2024: 17.17mn persons).
Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate held steady at 70.4% as of June 2024.
Annually, the number of labour force grew by 281,500 persons — a 1.7% increase from 16.91mn persons in July 2023. Subsequently, the LFPR was 0.3p.p higher than the 70.1% registered in July 2023.
Lead image / Department of Statistics Malaysia
share on
