Jobless rate below 4%, lowest since pandemic began

PETALING JAYA, 9 Jun — The unemployment rate dipped to 3.9% in April, the first time it fell below 4% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The statistics department said the number of unemployed people dropped from 669,200 in March to 649,300 in April.

“This was in part due to more business activities in conjunction with Ramadan, Hari Raya Aidilfitri and the reopening of international borders, which (benefited) the tourism sector and tourism-related industries,” chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said in a statement.

He said the services sector maintained an uptrend in employment, especially in wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages, and human health and social work industries.

Employment also rose in the manufacturing and construction sectors, while the agriculture sector recorded an increase in employment for the first time after 22 months of continuous decline.

Uzir said that out of the total actively unemployed persons, 58.1% were unemployed for less than three months while only 7.1% were unemployed for more than a year.

He said the labour market would continue to show improvements with the intake of foreign labour and the inflow of international tourists.

“This will open up more job opportunities since business activities require more workers to accommodate the growing demand for goods and services,” he said. “The labour market is forecasted to sustain its resiliency in the months to come.”