Overview

INTRODUCTION

Labour Force Survey (LFS) is conducted by Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM) every month through household approach to obtain data on the structure of employment and unemployment. This survey covers citizens and non-citizens in urban and rural  Malaysia.

The Labour Force Survey Report is an annual publication which presents the principal statistics of the force for population in the working age of 15 to 64 years old by selected demographic and socioeconomic characteristics such as sex, age group, educational attainment, occupation and industry.

LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE INCREASED 68.7 PER CENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINED AT 3.3 PER CENT

Labour force in Malaysia increased 2.0 per cent to nearly 15.6 million persons in 2019 as compared to 15.3 million persons in 2018. Employed person increased 297.4 thousand persons in 2019.

Labour force participation rate (LFPR) in 2019 increased 0.4 percentage points to 68.7 per cent as compared to 68.3 per cent in 2018. Hence, the remaining 31.3 per cent of the working age population was outside the labour force. The unemployment rate remained at 3.3 per cent in 2019.

Female LFPR rose 0.4 percentage points to 55.6 per cent in 2019. The participation of female in the labour market for the prime age groups namely 25 to 34 years (73.7%), 35 to 44 years (68.0%) and 45 to 54 years (58.9%) were higher as compared to female LFPR at the national level i.e 55.6 per cent.

The participation rate of male labour force was 80.8 per cent in 2019, increased 0.4 percentage points as compared to the previous year. The LFPR for age group of 15 to 24 years recorded the highest increase of 2.2 percentage points to 53.2 per cent. Age group of 25 to 34 years also recorded an increase 0.4 percentage points to 96.1 per cent. Overall, male LFPR was still higher than female for all age groups.

EMPLOYED PERSON

In 2019, the number of employed persons with tertiary education increased 0.8 percentage points to 29.4 per cent as against 28.6 per cent in the previous year. Meanwhile, employed persons with primary education declined 1.0 percentage points respectively.

Exhibit 1: Employed persons by educational attainment, Malaysia, 2018 and 2019

UNEMPLOYED PERSON

In 2019, 48.4 per cent active unemployed persons were unemployed for less than three months and 28.6 per cent between three months to less than six months. Meanwhile, 9.3 per cent were active unemployed persons of more than one year.
 

Table 1: Active unemployed persons by duration of unemployed, Malaysia, 2018 and 2019

OUTSIDE LABOUR FORCE

A majority of those outside labour force were housework/ family responsibilities and schooling. These groups had the potential to join the labour market 

Table 2: Population outside force reasons for not seeking work, Malaysia, 2018 and 2019

The detailed information and technical notes are published in the Force Survey Report, Malaysia, 2018. This report is accessible and downloadable through the application in DOSM web page, www.dosm.gov.my.

Note:
^[1] The International Organization (ILO) defines prime age as aged 25–54 years.

Released By:

DATO' SRI DR. MOHD UZIR MAHIDIN
CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
 DrUzir_Mahidin    Dr_Uzir

29 April 2020
 

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Public Relation Officer
Strategic Communication and International Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
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