PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s unemployment rate declined to 2.9% in August from 3% in July, with the number of unemployed persons falling by 8,700 to 511,600, shows the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Based on the Labour Force Statistics for August, DOSM said the number of employed persons increased by 0.2% to 16.87 million from 16.85 million in July.
The labour force expanded by 0.1% to 17.39 million from 17.37 million, while the labour force participation rate edged up to 71% from 70.9%.
DOSM said the employee category, which accounted for 74.9% of total employed persons, recorded a marginal increase of 0.1% to 12.63 million in August from 12.62% million in July.
DOSM said actively unemployed persons, comprising those who were available for work and actively seeking employment, accounted for 79.2% of the total unemployed population.
Their number declined by 1.8% to 405,100 from 412,600 in July.
“Of the actively unemployed, 64.2% had been unemployed for less than three months, while the long-term unemployed, or those out of work for more than a year, accounted for 5%.
The unemployment rate among youths aged 15 to 24 fell by 0.1% to 10.1%, with the number of unemployed persons in this group decreasing to 291,300 from 292,500 in July.
Similarly, the unemployment rate among youths aged 15 to 30 declined by 0.1% to 6.3%, while the number of unemployed persons in this age group fell to 394,600 from 404,500 in the previous month.
DOSM also said the number of persons outside the labour force decreased by 0.1% or 4,500 persons, to 7.11 million in August.
