The unemployment rate in Malaysia stood at 4.7% in August 2020, an increase of 1.4% when compared to the same period last year, according to data from Statistics Malaysia. When compared to July 2020, the unemployment rate remained steady.

The number of unemployed persons totaled 741,600 persons in August 2020. At the same time, the number of employed persons totaled 15.15 million persons, down 0.2% when compared to the previous year but up 0.5% compared to July 2020.

Malaysia’s labour force participation rate stood at 68.4%, down 0.3% compared to the same period last year.

The employment-to-population ratio which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment increased 0.3% from the previous month to 65.2% (July 2020: 64.9%). However, the employment-to-population ratio declined 1.2% from 66.4% in August 2019.

In August 2020, the lifting of restrictions led almost all sectors to regain momentum including the tourism industry due to higher demand. Hence, businesses related to this industry such as accommodation, food & beverage, and transportation & entertainment also experienced the positive impact.

“As the economic sector continues reopening, August 2020 saw the Malaysian labour situation improved further,” Statistics Malaysia stated. “Nevertheless, looking at the current situation where the Covid-19 cases is on an increasing trend, it is foreseen that some challenges will hinder the labour market recovery in the upcoming months and could impact the potential of the labour force to enter the labour market.”