THE number of unemployed persons decreased in May this year by 0.4% to 584,600, against 586,900 in April, the Statistics Department said. 

Releasing the Statistics of the Labour Force, Malaysia, May 2023 today, the department said the unemployment rate in May  stood at 3.5%, unchanged from April.

The department said the number in the labour force in May this year continued to record a steady upward trend with an addition of 0.2% to register 16.86 million persons compared with 16.84 million in April.

“May’s labour force participation rate remained at 70% as in April,” it said.

The department said a month-on-month comparison showed that the number of employed persons in May inched up 0.2% to record 16.28 million persons versus 16.25 million in April.

The department said the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 on a month-to-month basis edged down 0.1 percentage points to 11%, with 313,000 unemployed youths recorded versus 11.1% in April at 315,600.

It, however, said the unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 30 years had risen by 0.3 percentage points to 7%, with 448,600 unemployed youths in that age range compared with 6.7% in April at 441,000.

The department said the number of persons outside the labour force in May 2023 continued to record a marginal decline of 0.02%, although the number stood at 7.23 million, unchanged from April.

The department said as the Malaysian economy is expected to face challenges due to uncertain global economic positions as depicted in the Malaysian Leading Index indicators in April, with the labour market also seen to be facing hindrances. 

“The labour force is expected to grow at a modest pace in the coming months,” it said. – Bernama, July 10, 2023.