The unemployment rate in October 2024 remained at 3.2 per cent, recording a declining number of unemployed to 551.4 thousand persons, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported today in the release on Statistics of the Labour Force, Malaysia, October 2024.

'The statistics described the labour supply situation based on the Labour Force Survey conducted by DOSM. Commenting on the overall performance for October 2024, Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, "The country's labour market position in October 2024 remains optimistic following the positive development of the Malaysian economy. This is indicated by a steady rise in employment, while the unemployed continued to decline. Thus, the number of labour force was on its upward trend in October 2024, increasing by 0.1 per cent month-on-month to post 17.27 million persons (September
2024: 17.24 million persons). The labour force participation rate in October 2024 stood at 70.5 per cent as recorded last month."

Additionally, Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin highlighted that the number of employed persons rose by 0.2 per cent to 16.72 million persons in October 2024 (September 2024: 16.69 million persons). At the same time, the number of unemployed reduced further to 551.4 thousand persons compared to 555.3 thousand persons in the preceding month, recording a decline of 0.7 per cent. The unemployment rate remained unchanged for October 2024 at 3.2 per cent, the same as in the previous month.

Discussing further on the employment situation, the Chief Statistician of Malaysia said, "The employees category made up 74.9 per cent of the total employed persons. This group posted a slight rise of 0.1 per cent, reaching 12.53 million persons, compared to 12.51 million persons during last month. Likewise, the own-account workers were on an uptrend, rising by 0.3 per cent to 3.10 million persons (September 2024: 3.09 million)."

In terms of the economic sector, the number of employed persons in the Services sector steadily increased, largely in Wholesale & retail trade; Food & beverage services and Transportation & storage activities. On the same note, the Manufacturing, Construction, Mining & quarrying and Agriculture sectors also registered positive employment growth during the month.

Elaborating further on the unemployment, the actively unemployed or those who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs made up 79.8 per cent of the total unemployed persons. This category saw a decrease of 0.8 per cent, totalling
440.0 thousand persons (September 2024: 443.5 thousand persons). Among the actively unemployed, those who were unemployed for less than three months encompassed 62.2 per cent, while those who were in long-term unemployment for
more than a year were 6.4 per cent. Similarly, those who believed that there were no jobs available or the inactively unemployed fell by 0.4 per cent, to register 111.4 thousand persons (September 2024: 111.8 thousand persons).

The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 years declined by 0.1 percentage points to 10.4 per cent in October 2024, resulting in 301.5 thousand unemployed youths (September 2024: 10.5%; 304.2 thousand persons). Nevertheless, the
unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 30 years remained unchanged at 6.3 per cent, with 420.2 thousand unemployed youths compared to the previous month (September 2024: 6.3%; 420.1 thousand persons).

As for the inactivity group, the outside labour force in October 2024 saw a marginal decline of 0.02 per cent to 7.23 million persons (September 2024: 7.23 million persons). The main reasons for being outside the labour force were due to housework/
family responsibilities (43.0%), followed by the schooling/ training category (41.9%). Concluding the statement, the nation's labour market performance showed a steady upward trend, which was complemented with a stable labour force participation rate and encouraging economic growth. This scenario is expected to keep raising the demand for jobs, which will stabilise the country's economy and lead to the creation of new job opportunities. This is due to various programs and initiatives that have been and will be implemented to encourage the country's labour market to be more competitive and productive.