Number of Unemployed Persons Rose to 778,200 in July 2021

In July, the number of unemployed rose slightly to 778,200 thousand persons, resulting in the month's unemployment rate staying at 4.8%.

Based on July's edition of the Statistics of Labour Force by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the employee's category decreased by 0.02% to 11.87 million persons. The employee's category was the largest composition of employed persons. 

Nonetheless, the category of own-account workers continued to rise for six consecutive months with an addition of 0.3% month-on-month to record 2.5 million persons. Own-account workers are those who work on their own account or with one or more partners. Their remuneration is directly dependent on the profit from goods and services produced. 

 

Labour Force Participation Rate

The labour force participation rate (LFPR) during July stood at 68.3%. 

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the actively unemployed or those available for work and actively looking for jobs increased by 1.3% to 651.3 thousand persons. In June, the number was 642.9 thousand persons. This group covered 83.7% of the total unemployed persons. 

The group of unemployed for less than three months accounted for 53.9% of the actively unemployed. Meanwhile, the remaining 8.8% include those in the long-term unemployment of over a year. 

The number of inactively unemployed who believe that no jobs were available slightly increased by 0.8% to 126.9 thousand persons. In June, the number was 125.8 thousand persons or 6.4%.

 

Employment by sectors

All economic sectors posted month-on-month declines save for the Services sector with a slight positive shift after registering a drop in June. Among the main contributors for the positive growth in the Services sector were:

• Food & Beverage services,

• Transport & storage, and

• Information & communication.

The government recently allowed more economic and services sectors to operate with compliance to SOPs during Phase One and Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP). 

The number of employed persons who were temporarily not working dropped by 3.1% to record 776.3 thousand persons in July 2021, after two consecutive months of increase.

Labour force statistics in July 2021. Click here for the full size. Source: DOSM

The role of the National Recovery Plan

Dr Mohd Uzir said that the labour market is positively correlated with economic performance. Therefore, the implementation of NRP has enabled some flexibility for economic and services activities to continue in line with the plan's phases. 

According to him, the targeted strategy has brought some hope for the labour market to recover progressively. 

He also warned that due to the uncertainty of the public health situation, the labour market challenges might persist. 

He said that collaboration and awareness of the whole country, including individuals, communities and businesses, are crucial to achieving herd immunity. Herd immunity is needed to revive Malaysia's economy and labour market. 

 

Source: The Malaysian Reserve

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