Malaysia’s unemployment rate in April stood at 4.6%, down 0.4% year-on-year, according to research from Statistics Malaysia.

During April 2021, most states were in Mamlaysia’s pandemic Recovery Movement Control Order, with the exception of the largely populated states namely Johor, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Pulau Pinang which were in Conditional Movement Control Orders.

April also saw the arrival of the festive season which led to businesses seeing more demand and allowing relief to the labour market situation.

In April, the number of unemployed persons recorded a decline of 4.6%.

On a year-on-year basis, the number of employed persons continued its upward changes for two consecutive months, registering a stronger year-on-year growth of 2.8% (March 2021: 0.6%; April 2020: -1.0%). This year-on-year increase was due to the low base of employed persons during April last year as a result of the nationwide total lockdown.

Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate in Malaysia stood at 68.6% during the month, up 0.5% over the year and flat compared to March 2021.