Employment in Malaysia Increased in January 2019

Malaysia marked a small improvement in the labour force participation rate at 68.6% while the unemployment rate settled at 3.3% in January 2019, according to the Statistics Department.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour force participation rate in January 2019 raised by 0.1% to 68.6% on-month and improved by 0.4% on-year.

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia

In the statement on the main statistics of the labour force, Mohd Uzir said the number of workers in the labour force in January this year grew by 2.1% from a year ago to 15.51 million persons. In the same time span, the number of employed persons progressed by 2.2% to 14.99 million persons.

He also said the unemployment rate in January 2019 stayed at 3.3% since September 2018. The number of unemployed persons was 515,600, dropping by 0.2% from a year ago.

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia

Labour Force Survey (LFS)

The survey was conducted to collect information on the structure and distribution of labour force, employment and unemployment.

The survey covers both urban and rural areas of all states in Malaysia through personal interview method, comprising of economically active and inactive population. LFS surveyed those who are between 15 to 64 years old.

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia
 

Here are some definitions based on the survey:

• Labour force: those who are in the 15 to 64 years & either employed or unemployed

• Employed: all persons who worked at least one hour for pay, profit or family gain. This includes persons who did not work during the survey because of illness, unjury, bad weather, leave, labour dispute and social or religious reasons but had a job to return to. Also included are those on temporary lay-off with pay who would definitely be called back for work.

• Unemployed: those who do not have a job but are interested to work. Divided into actively unemployed & inactively unemployed

• Outside Labour Force: All persons not classified as employed or unemployed such as housewives, students, retired, disabled persons and those not interested in looking for a job.

• Labour Force Participation Rate: The ratio of the labour force to the working age population (15 to 64 years), expressed as percentage.

• Unemployment Rate: the proportion of unemployed population to the total population in labour force. This rate measures the percentage of unemployed population in the labour force.

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia
 

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Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia

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