UOB Group’s Senior Economist Julia Goh and Economist Loke Siew Ting comment on the latest jobs report in Malaysia.

Key Takeaways

“Malaysia’s labour market continued to post a gradual improvement in Mar, with both labour force (Mar: +30.5k or +0.2% m/m to 16.81mn, Feb: +25.8k or +0.2% m/m to 16.78mn) and total employment (Mar: +33.7k or +0.2% m/m to 16.22mn, Feb: +30.0k or +0.2% m/m to 16.19mn) expanding to hit an all-time high. The national unemployment rate also held steady at 3.5% in Mar. The same goes for labour force participation rate, which maintained at 69.9%.”

“There was a sustained increase in hiring across all economic sectors in Mar, led by the services and manufacturing sectors. The employment-to-population ratio inched up for the second straight month to 67.5% (from 67.4% in Feb), marking the highest level on record and indicating strong ability of Malaysia’s economy to create employment.”

“We maintain our 2023 year-end unemployment rate projection at 3.2% (BNM est: 3.3%, end-2022: 3.6%) as the latest reading of labour market indicators and economic performance remain largely in line with our expectations. The government’s ongoing measures to create and retain jobs as well as initiatives to lure high value-added investment will sustain the improvement in the labour market in the near term, despite lingering global macro headwinds and financial uncertainty. Moreover, the government is presently looking in principle at the policy for a progressive wage system in Malaysia, which is deemed positive for the labour market over the medium and long term.”