DOSM: Unemployment rate for April 2021 drops to 4.6%, lowest since Oct 2020

KUALA LUMPUR – The unemployment rate in Malaysia for April 2021 has dropped to 4.6% which was the lowest rate since October 2020, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported on Statistics of Labour Force, Malaysia, April 2021.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the number of unemployed persons was reduced by 0.1 percentage point or 10,500 persons month-on-month to register 742,700 persons compared to 753,200 recorded in March.

“Malaysia’s labour force continued to be on a recovery path in April 2021 as Recovery Movement Control Order (MCO) in most states and Conditional MCO gave more opportunities for businesses to continue their activities in full capacity while adhering to strict standard operating procedures.

“Better business outlook was also reflected by the performance of Leading Index (LI) for March 2021 which posted an increase of 1.8% month-on-month (February 2021: 1.1%).

“Hence, the number of the labour force in April 2021 recorded a month-on-month increase of 0.1% or an addition of 12,200 persons to record 16.09 million persons (March 2021: 16.08 million persons). The labour force participation rate (LFPR) for the month stood at 68.6%,” he said in a statement on June 9.

Mohd Uzir said the actively unemployed, which is defined as those who were available for work and actively seeking job encompassing more than 80% of the total unemployed persons, had decreased by 8,200 persons (-1.3%) to record 618,700 persons (March 2021: 626,900 persons).

“Out of the total actively unemployed, 52.1% were unemployed for less than three months.

“Observing the inactivity group, the number of the outside labour force during the month posted an increase of 13,100 persons to 7.38 million persons (March 2021: 7.36 million persons) and was dominated by schooling/ training categories with 43.5% (3.21 million persons) and followed by housework/ family responsibilities with 42.1% (3.10 million persons),” he said.

The number of employed persons remained in an increasing trend with a month-on-month gain of 22,700 persons to post 15.35 million persons, while the employment-to-population ratio which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment remained unchanged at 65.4% in April 2021.

May 2021 has witnessed the public health crisis situation in Malaysia getting more challenging with a rise in the number of daily COVID-19 infection cases, hence resulting in the implementation of the total lockdown nationwide from June 1 to 14 with the closure of all economic and social sectors except for essential economic and service sectors.

“Labour market condition is foreseen to face another challenging situation in the upcoming months but the provision of various assistances by the government may cushion the impact and subsequently restore the labour market condition,” he added.