The unemployment rate in Malaysia stood at 4.8% in December 2020, an increase of 1.6% when compared to the same period last year, according to data from Statistics Malaysia. When compared to November 2020, the unemployment rate was unchanged.

The number of unemployed persons totalled 772,900 persons in December 2020. At the same time, the number of employed persons totalled 15.22 million persons, down 0.5% when compared to the previous year and up 0.1% compared to November 2020. 

By economic sector, employed persons in services continued its increasing trend largely in wholesale & retail trade; human health & social work; communication & information; and education activities.

Employment in manufacturing sectors continued to record a positive growth in December 2020, whereas the agriculture and mining & quarrying sectors were still in the negative trend for the fifth month. Similarly, the construction sector also posted a decrease month-on-month.

The country’s labour force participation rate stood at 68.4% in December 2020, down 0.5% when compared to December 2019 and steady when compared to the previous month.

“The labour market condition in December 2020 was still influenced by the health crisis and economic consequences has caused slower recovery momentum in the labour market,” the Department stated. “Thus, during the month, the labour force remained competitive with an increase in the number of employed and unemployed persons.”

According to the Department of Statistics, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world coupled with the spike of new daily cases in Malaysia, it is predicted that Malaysia’s labour market will remain in a challenging situation in early of 2021, but with various assistance and initiatives introduced by the government, it is hoped that this will cushion the impact of the pandemic to the labour market.