KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The private sector recorded an increase of 82,000 positions in the first quarter of the year compared to the first quarter of 2018, the Department of Statistics revealed today.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this means there are 8.54 million positions in the private sector, whereas the first quarter of last year saw 8.46 million.

"The rate of filled positions was 97.7 per cent, an increase of 0.1 per cent compared to Q1 2018,” he said in the Employment Statistics First Quarter 2019.

Jobs created in Q1 were largely in the semi-skilled category at 49.1 per cent, followed by the skilled category at 44.9 per cent, and the low-skilled category at 6.0 per cent.

"The quarter also saw the services sector take the largest share of positions and filled positions, at 51.9 and 52.6 per cent respectively.

"This is followed by the manufacturing sector, at 26.2 and 25.5 per cent, respectively,” said Uzir.

The same sector also saw the largest registered share of vacancies at 54.3 per cent, followed by services at 21.3 per cent, and agriculture at 14.3 per cent.

"Jobs created are largely attributed to the services sector at 52.2 per cent, with the construction and manufacturing sectors registering a share of 20.2 per cent and 17.5 per cent, respectively,” he said.