The unemployment rate in May 2024 stood at 3.3 per cent, with the number of unemployed reduced further to 566.1 thousand persons, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported today in the release on Statistics of the Labour Force, Malaysia, May 2024.

The statistics described the labour supply situation based on the Labour Force Survey conducted by DOSM.

Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, "An optimistic economic position in May 2024 has allowed the country's labour market to continue to develop steadily. Therefore, the number of labour force in May 2024 strengthened further by 0.1 per cent to record 17.15 million persons (April 2024: 17.12 million persons). The labour force participation rate remained at 70.3 per cent, as recorded last month."

Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the number of employed persons in May 2024 remained in a positive trend, with a rise of 0.1 per cent month-on-month to 16.58 million persons (April 2024: 16.56 million persons).

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons fell slightly by 0.1 per cent from 566.4 thousand persons in April 2024 to 566.1 thousand persons in May 2024.

The unemployment rate during the month remained unchanged at 3.3 per cent.

On the employment situation, the Chief Statistician Malaysia said, "In May 2024, the employees' category comprised 75.1 per cent of the total employed persons, increasing by 0.1 per cent to 12.44 million persons (April 2024: 12.43 million persons). Similarly, the category of own-account workers was on an upward trend, with an addition of 0.3 per cent to 3.05 million persons (April 2024: 3.04 million persons)."

In terms of economic sector, nearly two-thirds of the employed persons were concentrated in the Services sector, which continued to show an uptrend, particularly in the Wholesales & retail trade, Food & beverage services and Information & communication activities. On the same note, the Manufacturing, Construction, Mining & quarrying and Agriculture sectors also recorded a rise in employment.

Dr. Mohd Uzir added those who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs or were actively unemployed made up 79.9 per cent of the total unemployed persons.

This category showed an increase of 0.1 per cent to 452.0 thousand persons (April 2024: 451.4 thousand persons). By duration of unemployment for the actively unemployed, 61.5 per cent were those who were unemployed for less than three months, whereas 6.8 per cent were those who were in long-term unemployment for more than a year.

Meanwhile, the inactively unemployed or those who believed that there were no jobs available were reduced by 0.8 per cent to 114.0 thousand persons (April 2024: 115.0 thousand persons).

The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 years declined by 0.1 percentage points to 10.5 per cent in May 2024, resulting in 305.6 thousand unemployed youths (April 2024: 10.6%; 305.9 thousand persons).

Nevertheless, the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 30 years remained unchanged at 6.5 per cent, with 434.6 thousand unemployed youths compared to the previous month (April 2024: 6.5%; 434.9 thousand persons).

As for the inactivity group, the number of persons outside the labour force in May 2024 posted a slight decrease of 0.003 per cent to 7.23 million persons (April 2024: 7.23 million persons). The major composition of the outside labour force was housework/ family responsibilities, accounting for 42.7 per cent, followed by the schooling/ training category (41.4%).

He said as economic and business activities continue to flourish, it has contributed to the creation of more jobs and income opportunities in the economy, which will encourage more labour participation in the market. In addition, the performance of the country's leading index also continued to improve, signalling that the Malaysian economy is expected to experience sustained growth in the near term.

Therefore, the labour market is expected to remain on a stable path in the upcoming months, backed by favourable economic growth, a growing domestic economic position, as well as the recovery of the external sector.