Malaysia’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1% over the year to 4.5% in September 2021, according to the latest data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

When compared to August 2021, the unemployment rate also fell by 0.1%.

The number of unemployed persons decreased by 1.1% when compared to September 2020 and fell by 2.6% compared to August 2021, to a total of 729,600 persons.

The number of employed persons increased by 1.8% when compared to September 2020 and increased by 0.6% compared to August 2021, to a total of 15.46 million persons.

The labour force in September 2021 stood at 16.19 million persons, up 1.6% over the year and up 0.4% over the month. The labour force participation rate during the month stood at 68.6%. This was down from 0.2% from the year prior and the month prior.

The transition of more states in Malaysia into the next phases of the National Recovery Plan allowed more business activities to resume as well as extend hours of business operations.

According to the Department, the continuous dynamic economic activities will accelerate the recovery process of businesses in Malaysia, and subsequently attribute to an increase in labour demand hence resulting in creation of more job opportunities.