Malaysia’s unemployment rate increased year-on-year by 1.5% to a rate of 4.8% in February 2021, according to data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

When compared to the previous month, the unemployment rate fell slightly by 0.1%.

Overall, the number of unemployed persons stood at 777,500 in February, this was up 48% from the previous year and down 0.6% from the previous month.

The number of employed persons in Malaysia stood at 15.27 million in February 2021, down 0.5% from the previous year but up 0.2% from the previous month.

Meanwhile, the country’s labour force participation rate stood at 16.05 million, up 1.1% from the previous year and up 0.2% from the previous month.

On 17 March 2021, the government launched a new stimulus package named the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and Economy (PEMERKASA). The initiative is aimed at restoring and empowering the economy amid the pandemic.

According to Statistics Malaysia, with the country’s continuous economic recovery path and the subsequent positive impact to labour market improvement, it is foreseen that the labour demand may continue to expand marginally and the labour supply will remain competitive.

According to SIA’s Most Attrractive Staffing Markets Globally research report published in March 2021, Malaysia was ranked as the most attractive staffing market alongside India compared to over 60 staffing markets assessed across six continents.