525,200 people were unemployed in Malaysia in February 2020

A total of 525,200 people were unemployed in Malaysia in February this year, a 2.6% increase from January (511,700).

At the same time, the unemployment rate had increased month-on-month (m-o-m), from 3.2% in January to 3.3% in February.

According to the Department of Statistics’ latest Key Statistics of Labour Force in Malaysia, this rate was still “unaffected by the internal shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”, although the March 2020 numbers are expected to be impacted by it.

Labour force participation rate decreased m-o-m, number of employed persons increased

While the above was so, the country observed a 0.2 percentage points (pp) drop in its labour force participation rate m-o-m, down from 68.9% in January 2020 to 68.7% in February 2020. However, there was an increase in the working age population (aged 15-64 years) in the labour force; up from 15,829,300 in January to 15,869,800 in February.

When compared year-on-year, February this year saw a 2.1% rise in the number of people in the labour force, versus February 2019 (15,543,200).

And on the employment front – Malaysia saw more people employed this February (15,344,500), a 0.2% increase from the previous month (15,317,600) and a 2.1% increase from the same period in 2019 (15,026,800).

View the full infographic below.

Lead image and infographic / Department of Statistics Malaysia