Malaysia’s labour market remained strong in September and Q3 2024: DOSM

Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that with the various initiatives designed to encourage more labour participation in the near future, Malaysia’s labour force performance is anticipated to be more competitive and continue to strengthen and stabilise in the following months.

Malaysia's labour market remained strong in September and Q3 2024, according to the Department of Labour Statistics (DOSM)’s Labour Force Survey released on 8 November 2024 (Friday). 

Per the statistics, the number of employed persons in September and Q3 2024 continued to observe a positive trend.

Here are excerpts of the overall performance for September and the third quarter of this year:  

September  

Employment 

• The number of employed persons continued to be on a positive trend with a month-on-month increase of 0.2% to 16.69mn persons in September 2024. 
• The employees’ category comprised 75.1% of the total employed persons. During the month, the number increased by 0.1% to 12.51mn persons. 
• Similarly, the category of own-account workers was on an upward trend, with an addition of 0.3% to 3.09mn persons. 
• The number of employed persons which was concentrated in the services sector continued to record increases, particularly in food & beverage services; wholesale & retail trade, and information & communication activities. 
• On the same note, the manufacturing, construction, mining & quarrying and agriculture sectors also registered a rise in employment. 

Unemployment  

• The number of unemployed persons was declining, with a reduction of 0.6% to 555,300 persons. The unemployment rate for September 2024 remained at 3.2%. 
• The unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 24 increased to 10.5%. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 30 fell to 6.3%. 
• Those who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs or the actively unemployed made up 79.9% of the total unemployed persons. 
• By duration of unemployment for the actively unemployed, 62.0% were those who were unemployed for less than three months, while those who were in long-term unemployment for more than a year comprised 6.5%. 
• The inactively unemployed or those who believed that there were no jobs available, posted a decrease of 0.1% of 111,800 persons. 
• In terms of unemployment rate according to state, Kedah had the lowest unemployment rate at 1.6 per cent during the quarter, followed by Selangor (1.9%), Pulau Pinang (2.0%) and W.P. Putrajaya (2.0%). 

 Labour force participation rate (LFPR) 

• A higher LFPR was recorded at 70.5%, rising by 0.1 percentage points as compared to the previous month. 
• Six states saw an increase in LFPR, reflecting greater labour participation in the market. 
• Selangor posted the highest LFPR at 76.3%, followed by Kuala Lumpur (74.9%) and Johor (71.4%). 

Outside labour force  

• The number of persons outside the labour force in September 2024 posted a slight decrease of 0.01% to 7.23mn persons. 
• The major composition for the outside labour force was housework/ family responsibilities, accounting for 42.9%, followed by the schooling/ training category at 41.1%. 

Q3 2024

Employment 

Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, noted a positive trend in employment in Q3 2024. The number of employed persons increased by 0.7% to 16.72mn. This growth indicates a strengthening labour market. 

Unemployment 

The unemployment rate decreased to 3.2% in the third quarter of 2024, down from 3.3% in the previous quarter. The number of unemployed persons also declined by 1.8% to 547,900. 

LFPR 

The LFPR remained steady at 70.5% during the third quarter of 2024. While the overall LFPR remained unchanged, six states saw an increase in LFPR, reflecting greater labour participation in the market. Selangor posted the highest LFPR at 76.3%, followed by Kuala Lumpur (74.9%) and Johor (71.4%). 

Underemployment 

The chief statistician also highlighted trends in underemployment. While time-related underemployment decreased, skill-related underemployment, which involves overqualified workers, increased. 

• Part-time workers: The number of individuals working less than 30 hours per week decreased by 2.8% to 268,100 (from 275,800 in Q2 2024). 
• Underemployed part-time workers: The number of part-time workers seeking additional hours declined by 6.3% to 159,100 (from 169,800 in Q2 2024), resulting in a time-related underemployment rate of 1.0%. 
• Skill-related underemployment: The number of individuals with tertiary education working in lower-skilled roles increased by 0.7% to 1.95mn, representing 36.8% of the overall skill-related underemployment rate (compared to 1.94mn and 37.0% in Q2 2024). 

Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin concluded by stating that, in line with the "encouraging" current Malaysian economic performance, the country's labour market has also shown consistent improvement. “Strong domestic demand and recovery in the external sector have also created more job opportunities in the market, thus having a positive impact on the performance of Malaysia's labour force.  

"Therefore, with various initiatives designed that are seen to encourage more labour participation in the market in the near future, the country's labour force performance is anticipated to be more competitive and continue to strengthen and stabilise in the coming months." 

Read more on the Q3 2024 labour market performance here. 

READ MORE: Over 20,000 jobs generated in Malaysia's manufacturing sector in Q3 2024

Lead image / DOSM