Malaysia’s labour force sees improvements, recording 16.68mn employed persons in January 2025: DOSM

Overall, the unemployment rate remained at 3.1% in January.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia recorded improvements in the labour force in January 2025, observing an increasing number of employed persons in the month.

In particular, this was a rise of 0.3%, representing a growth from 16.63mn persons employed in December 2024 to 16.68mn in the first month of 2025. This brought the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of the economy to create employment, up by 0.1 percentage points to 68.5%.

The labour force as a whole also rose by 0.3%, from 17.17mn to 17.22mn persons. However, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) in January remained at 70.6%, same as the previous month. The percentage of males in the LFPR dominated the females at 83.2% and 56.2% respectively.

On the contrary, the number of persons outside the labour force fell by 0.03%, from 7.16mn to 7.15mn within a month. A majority of the population that made up this segment were people with housework or family responsibilities, accounting for 43.6%, followed by those who were schooling or training that make up 41.8%.

Taking a closer look, the total employed persons took up 75.3% of the employment sector, which was a 0.3% increase from the previous month, totaling up to a value of 12.56mn persons. Within the employment category, 18.6% were own-account workers, 3.3% were employers, and 2.8% were unpaid family workers.

On the other hand, the number of unemployed persons continued to decrease month on month —down 0.9%, from 538,500 in December 2024, to 533,800 persons in January this year. 423,600 of which were actively unemployed while 110,200 were inactively unemployed in the month of January. Both categories saw a decline of 0.5% and 2.3% respectively.

Overall, the unemployment rate remained at 3.1% in January.

Looking at the economy as a whole, the accommodation and food & beverage services, wholesale & retail trade, and human health and social work activities showed steady growth. Similarly, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and mining & quarrying also experienced the same positive employment growth in January 2025.

READ MORE: Malaysia’s labour market outlook remains positive in 2025, following performance in Q4 2024: DOSM

Lead image/ Department of Statistics Malaysia Labour Force Statistics, January 2025