UOB Group’s Senior Economist Julia Goh and Economist Loke Siew Ting, comments on the recent release of the labour market results in Malaysia.

Key Takeaways

“Malaysia’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% in Apr after the labour force continued to grow by 35.8k or 0.2% m/m to its record size of 16.44mn (Feb: +36.3k or +0.2% m/m to 16.40mn). Accordingly, the labour force participation rate hit an all-time high of 69.2% (Feb: 69.1%).”

“Similarly, total employment increased further by 38.5k or 0.2% to another new record level of 15.77mn (Feb: +44.8k or +0.3% m/m to 15.73mn). It was again driven by additional hiring in services, manufacturing, and construction sectors, fully offsetting the persistent reduction in employment in both agriculture and mining & quarrying sectors for the 20th straight month.”

“Overall, the labour market has improved for eight straight months, reinforcing our expectations of a sustained recovery through 2022. The country’s transition to endemicity from 1 Apr and upliftment of most COVID containment measures by 15 May are key catalysts for the ongoing economic recovery. However, uncertainty surrounding geopolitical tensions, new coronavirus variants, and intensified business costs suggests that a full labour market recovery back to pre-pandemic levels is unlikely for now. We maintain our year-end jobless rate forecast at 3.6% (end-2021: 4.1%, end2019: 3.3%).”