Overview

Labour Force

Labour force in Malaysia in 2022 strengthened further by 1.4 per cent (+224.9 thousand persons) reaching a total of 16.02 million persons as compared to 15.80 million persons in 2021.Meanwhile, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) remained on an increasing trend, escalated by 0.7 percentage points to 69.3 per cent (2021: 68.6%). 

Employed Person

In 2022, there were 15.39 million of employed persons, increased by 2.2 per cent or 327.6 thousand persons, as compared to the preceding year (2021: 15.06 million persons). Subsequently, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, increased 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to reach 66.5 per cent (2021: 65.4%).

Unemployment

Comparison to the previous year, the unemployment rate in 2022 registered a reduction of 0.7 percentage points to 3.9 per cent due to the improvement of the economy which is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the line with that, the number of unemployed decreased by 102.7 thousand persons to record 630.4 thousand unemployed persons (2021: 733.0 thousand persons). 

Outside Labour Force

In 2022, the total population outside the labour force reached 7.11 million persons, decreased by 1.5 per cent or equivalent to 111.3 thousand persons (2021: 7.22 million persons). By sex, female represent 69.6 per cent of the population of outside labour force and male account for 30.4 per cent. The number of females outside the labour force decreased 0.2 per cent to 4.95 million persons (2021: 4.95 million persons), while males decreased by 4.6 per cent to 2.16 million persons (2021: 2.27 million persons).

Selected Indicators by State

In terms of performance by states, the higher labour force participation rate indicates that more labour participation in the economy. In 2022, all states registered increases in LFPR with the highest LFPR recorded in Selangor recorded the highest rate at 76.9 per cent, followed by W.P. Putrajaya (75.7%), W.P. Kuala Lumpur (72.4%), Johor and Sabah (70.9%).

Meanwhile, as for the unemployment rate by states, all states also recorded a decrease in unemployment rate. During the year, W.P. Putrajaya posted the lowest unemployment rate with 1.0 per cent, followed by Melaka (1.6%) and Pahang (2.5%).

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA

31 JULY 2023

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