Overview

Introduction

This publication presents the labour demand statistics based on the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted on formal private sector establishments encompassing major economic activities namely Agriculture, Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing, Construction and Services. The principal statistics of employment presented in this report are jobs, filled jobs, vacancies and jobs created by economic activity and category of skill.

Labour Demand, Fourth Quarter of 2023

During the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of jobs in the economic sector increased by 2.1 per cent to register 8.94 million jobs compared to the same quarter of the previous year (Q4 2022: 8.76 million). Meanwhile, the rate of filled jobs increased by 0.1 percentage point to 97.9 per cent with 8.74 million filled jobs (Q4 2022: 8.56 million).

A total of 190.2 thousand job vacancies with a rate of 2.1 per cent are available during this quarter, decreasing by 2.2 thousand as compared to Q4 2022 (192.4 thousand). Besides, there is a total of 31.1 thousand jobs created in this quarter (Q4 2022: 30.9 thousand). 

Labour Demand by Skill

In terms of composition by skills category, majority of jobs were in the semi-skilled category with 62.5 per cent or 5.59 million jobs, followed by skilled (25.1%; 2.24 million and low-skilled (12.4%; 1.11 million). 

The skilled jobs increased by 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to record 2.24 million jobs compared to Q3 2023 (2.22 million). Subsequently, the filled jobs rate remained high at 97.8 per cent or equivalent to 2.19 million jobs.  There were 48.1 thousand job vacancies, with a rate of 2.2 per cent. On the other hand, the number of jobs created for this quarter has decreased by 0.7 per cent to record 8.6 thousand jobs compared to the same quarter of the preceding year (Q4 2022: 8.7 thousand).

During this quarter, the semi-skilled category made up the biggest share of jobs with 62.5 per cent (5.59 million) jobs. The rate of filled jobs was 98.1 per cent or equivalent to 5.48 million jobs while 1.9 per cent (105.6 thousand), were job vacancies.  Meanwhile, the number of jobs created in this category decreased from 19.5 thousand (Q4 2022) to 19.3 thousand in Q4 2023.

For the low-skilled category, the number of jobs decreased by 0.4 per cent, posting 1.11 million jobs as compared to the same quarter last year (Q4 2022: 1.12 million). In this category, there were 1.08 million filled jobs with a rate of 96.7 per cent and 36.5 thousand job vacancies with a vacancy rate of 3.3 per cent. In addition, there were 3.1 thousand low-skilled jobs were created, accounting for 10.0 per cent of all jobs created. 

Labour Demand by Economic Activity

Looking at the breakdown by economic activity, the Services sector constituted the biggest composition of jobs with a percentage share of 51.8 per cent (4.63 million), followed by Manufacturing with 27.6 per cent (2.47 million). The Construction and Agriculture sectors accounted for 14.2 per cent (1.26 million) and 5.5 per cent (495.5 thousand) of total employment respectively. Meanwhile, the Mining and Quarrying sector registered the least proportion of jobs at 0.9 per cent or equivalent to 80.6 thousand jobs.

The Services sector accounted for over half of the filled jobs, with a share of 52.6 per cent, equivalent to 4.60 million jobs, followed by Manufacturing with a contribution of 27.0 per cent to record 2.36 million jobs. The Construction and Agriculture sectors held shares of 14.2 per cent (1.24 million) and 5.3 per cent (464.5 thousand) respectively. Meanwhile, the Mining & Quarrying sector had the smallest share at 0.9 per cent, representing 80.1 thousand filled jobs.

The Manufacturing sector had the biggest share of job vacancies, accounting for 56.8 per cent (108.0 thousand), followed by Agriculture at 16.3 per cent (31.1 thousand) and Construction at 13.5 per cent (25.5 thousand). 

Additionally, the jobs created in the Services sector was 48.7 per cent (15.1 thousand), while Manufacturing came in second with 34.0 per cent (10.5 thousand), followed by Construction at 12.0 per cent (3.7 thousand).

The publication of the Employment Statistics, Fourth Quarter of 2023 can be downloaded through eStatistics portal.

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA
15 February 2024

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