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PUTRAJAYA – Malaysia’s unemployment rate in May 2021 was 4.5% or involving 728,100 persons, according to the Statistics Department.
In figures published today, the department said the unemployment rate in May 2021 was slightly lower from 4.6% in April.
In May last year, Malaysia experienced an all-time high monthly unemployment rate of 5.3% with 826,100 unemployed persons.
“Thus, in comparison with the same month of the previous year, the number was smaller yet still above 500,000 persons recorded in the pre-pandemic period,” said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin commenting on the report in a statement today.
Commenting further, Uzir said the actively unemployed, which comprised more than 80% of the total unemployed persons, recorded a reduction of 8,700 persons to 609,900 persons compared to 618,700 persons in April.
“Among the actively unemployed who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs, 52.2% were unemployed for less than three months while those who were in long-term unemployment of more than a year made up 10.2%,” he said.
On the employed persons during the month, Uzir said the number of employed persons increased marginally by 0.1% to 15.37 million persons compared with 15.35 million in April.
By economic sector, the number of employed persons in the services sector posted a month-on-month increase particularly in wholesale & retail trade; food & beverages services and human health & social work activities, he said. – Bernama, July 8, 2021
