PUTRAJAYA: The unemployment rate reached its lowest point since the Covid-19 pandemic with 602,000 jobless people recorded in October.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the upbeat labour force performance in October 2022 was a reflection of the stable nation's economic fundamentals, which were the outcome of consistently expanding social and economic activities.
"Increased tourist arrival in the country has impacted the pace of economic activity, which in turn encouraged domestic and international tourism.
"Hence, the market required additional labour to sustain the generally encouraging company operations."
The labour force has shown an increase of 0.2 per cent from September to October to reach 16.68 million people, while the labour force participation rate (LFPR) remained at 69 per cent.
The increase in the number of employed persons continued in October with a 0.2 per cent month-over-month increase to register 16.08 million people compared to September with 16.05 million people.
It was reported that there were 602,000 jobless people, lesser than there was a year before, a 0.5 per cent decrease from 605,000 in September.
"In October, the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 per cent, 0.3 percentage points higher than the level before the pandemic which fell in February 2020 recorded 3.3 per cent.
"The category of employees, which made up the greatest portion of all employed people with 75.9 per cent, increased by 0.1 per cent to 12.20 million people in October 2022.
"Meanwhile, 81.6 per cent of all jobless people were considered to be actively seeking employment or available for work. The number of people in this category decreased by 1.1 per cent to 491,300 thousand in October compared to September 2022 with 496,600 thousand persons.
"Sixty per cent of those who were actively looking for work had been out of work for less than three months, while 6.3 per cent had been out of work for more than a year.
"The number of people who said there was no employment available, often known as the inactively unemployed, increased by 2.1 per cent to 110,700 thousand people," he said in a statement today.
The number of jobless youths aged 15 to 24 years remained unchanged at 12.1 per cent, totalling 337,200 while the number of unemployed youths aged 15 to 30 years increased to 7.4 per cent, totalling 476,900.
Regarding the inactive categories, the number of people in the unemployed population has been declining since August 2021, falling by 0.03 per cent to a record 7.24 million people.
Housework and family obligations accounted for the bulk of the outside labour force at 43.3 per cent, followed by education and training at 40.9 per cent.