PUTRAJAYA, May 24 — The number of labour force increased by 1.9 per cent to record 16.96 million persons in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, according to the Labour Market Review Q1 2024 released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia today.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement, said the labour participation rate went up 0.4 per cent year-on-year to 70.2 per cent, in line with the economic growth of 4.2 per cent.
He said the number of unemployed persons decreased by 4.4 per cent to 561,100, registering the lowest national unemployment rate at 3.3 per cent.
From the perspective of labour demand, Mohd Uzir said that jobs in the private sector increased by 1.5 per cent year-on-year to 8.94 million jobs during Q1 2024.
“Filled jobs comprised 97.9 per cent of the total jobs, growing 1.5 per cent to 8.75 million,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said job openings in the economy observed by the number of vacancies made up another 2.1 per cent of jobs, slightly decreased by 0.4 per cent to 191,900 vacancies, largely in the manufacturing sector, which accounted for 108,800 or 56.7 per cent of job vacancies.
During the quarter, Malaysia’s labour demand continued to improve by 1.3 per cent in the number of jobs created, encompassing 32,100 jobs. — Bernama
