THE number of jobs in the private sector increased by 145,000 in the second quarter this year to 8.6 million posts compared with 8.5 million in the corresponding period last year, according to chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

He said 97.5% or 8.4 million of the posts were filled, with vacancies for 218,000 posts.

Most of the jobs were in the semi-skilled category, totalling 5.4 million.

In terms of jobs created, the semi-skilled category represents 48.5% (13,200), followed by skilled category 44.7% and 6.8% for low-skilled category, he said in a statement yesterday.

Mohd Uzir said 51.6% of jobs in the private sector were in the service sector, while 26.3% were in the manufacturing sector, followed by 15.2% in the construction sector, agriculture (5.9%) and 1% in mining and quarrying.

In terms of job vacancies, he said, 55.6% were in the manufacturing sector, followed by the service sector (20.1%).

“The mining and quarrying sector recorded the most posts filled, at 99.6%, followed by the service sector (99%) and the construction sector (98.3%).

“For the manufacturing and agriculture sectors, the rate of posts filled were 94.7% and 94%,” he said. – Bernama, September 7, 2019.