Jobless rate remains at 4.7%

File pic of construction project: Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said employment continued to rise, reflecting the resumption of more economic activities starting July 2020.

KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s unemployment rate remained at 4.7 per cent in August 2020, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) announced on Tuesday.

The number of those unemployed, however, decreased marginally by 3,500 persons to 741,600 during the month compared to July, it said in the latest labour force statistics report.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said employment continued to rise, reflecting the resumption of more economic activities starting July 2020 including tourism, education as well as arts, entertainment and recreational activities.

"During the month, the number of employed persons went up by 0.5 per cent to 15.15 million compared with 0.6 per cent recorded in July 2020, following job gains in the services sector, particularly in wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, and food and beverages as well as information and communication activities, ” he said.

In line with this, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, increased 0.3 percentage point month-on-month to 65.2 per cent (July 2020: 64.9 per cent).

In terms of status of employment, the employees category increased by 72,600 compared to previous month to record 11.72 million.

Own-account workers, which accounted for 2.42 million, picked up to a positive growth for the first time since April 2020.

Meanwhile, there were only 102,000 employed persons who were temporarily not working against 104,300 persons recorded in July 2020.

With the employed and unemployed persons situation in August 2020, the labour force during the month numbered 15.90 million (July 2020: 15.82 million).

The labour force participation rate (LFPR) improved 0.3 percentage point to 68.4 per cent. Meantime, outside labour force decreased 0.7 per cent to 7.35 million persons.

The largest composition of outside labour force -- persons not classified as employed or unemployed -- was due to schooling, followed by housework/ family responsibilities.

The chief statistician said that as the economic sectors continued reopening, August 2020 saw the Malaysia’s labour force situation improved further.

"Nevertheless, the continuous improvement will be subject to the COVID-19 situation in the country, ” he added. - Bernama