The unemployment rate in Malaysia stood at 3.4% in October 2023, down 0.2% over the year, according to Statistics Malaysia.

When compared to the prior month, the unemployment rate was unchanged.

In October 2023, the number of unemployed persons totalled 570,900  (September 2023: 573,700 persons). This was down 5.2% over the year and also down 0.2% over the month.

Meanwhile, the improvement in the number of employed persons continued in October 2023 with a month-on-month increase of 0.2% (28,100 persons) to register 16.40 million persons (September 2023: 16.38 million persons). The annual increase was 2.0%.

In October 2023, the employment-to-population ratio which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, was unchanged at 67.7% as in the preceding month.

In October 2023, the number of labour force was in an upward trend, with an addition of 0.1% or 25,300 persons to 16.97 million persons (September 2023: 16.95 million persons). The year-on-year increase was 1.7%.

October’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 70.1% as of September 2023, unchanged over the prior month and up 0.4% over the year.

The number of outside labour force during the month declined over the month marginally by 0.02% to 7.24 million persons (September 2023: 7.24 million persons). The annual increase was also marginal at 0.005%.