PUTRAJAYA: The country’s labour market remains stable with an unemployment rate of 2.9%, it was revealed.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the country’s labour market in January sustained its expansion in line with favourable economic growth, with steady employment growth and a persistently low unemployment rate.
“The labour force continued its positive momentum during the month, rising by 0.1% month-on-month to 17.28 million persons (December 2025 – 17.27 million persons).
“Accordingly, the labour force participation rate edged up by 0.1 percentage point to 70.9% (December 2025: 70.8%), indicating more labour participation in the market,” he said yesterday, Bernama reported.
The details were in the Statistics of the Labour Force for January released by the Statistics Department.
Mohd Uzir said the number of employed persons continued to increase during the month, with a marginal increase of 0.04% to 16.77 million persons, from 16.76 million persons last December.
At the same time, the number of unemployed recorded an uptick of 0.3%, reaching 509.6 thousand persons (December 2025: 508.0 thousand persons).
“January’s unemployment rate remained at 2.9%, as in the prior month,” Mohd Uzir said.
He added that Malaysia’s labour market in the coming months was anticipated to remain favourable, with the unemployment rate remaining low, reflecting a strong labour force condition.
“Labour force participation is also foreseen to remain stable following a balanced recovery in the services, tourism and technology export sectors.
“Employment opportunities are also seen to increase in the high-tech and services subsectors, driven by automation, AI, digital and foreign investment,” he said.
