Overview

• The number of employed persons continued to show improvement in February 2025, increasing by 0.3 per cent (+49.7 thousand persons) to 16.73 million persons (January 2025: 16.68 million persons). The employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, was unchanged at 68.5 per cent as in the preceding month.

• In terms of economic sector, most of the employed persons were concentrated in the Services sector, largely in Accommodation and food & beverage services; Wholesale & retail trade; and Information & communication activities. A similar trend of employment was also observed in the Manufacturing, Construction, and Agriculture sectors, while the number of employed persons in the Mining & quarrying sector decreased.

• The employees’ category comprised 75.2 per cent of the total employed persons in February 2025, registering an increase of 0.2 per cent (+27.2 thousand persons) to 12.59 million persons (January 2025: 12.56 million persons). On the same note, the number of own-account workers also edged up by 0.6 per cent (+19.6 thousand persons) to 3.13 million persons (January 2025: 3.11 million persons).

• During the month, the number of unemployed persons fell by 0.2 per cent (-1.0 thousand persons) from 533.8 thousand persons in January 2025 to 532.8 thousand persons in February 2025. February’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.1 per cent as in the prior month.

• In February 2025, the number of labour force continued to expand with a rise of 0.3 per cent (+48.7 thousand persons) to 17.27 million persons (January 2025: 17.22 million persons). A higher labour force participation rate (LFPR) was recorded during the month at 70.7 per cent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from 70.6 per cent in the previous month.

• The number of persons outside the labour force in February 2025 posted a marginal decrease of 0.02 per cent (-1.7 thousand persons) to 7.15 million persons (January 2025: 7.15 million persons). The main reason for being outside the labour force was due to housework/ family responsibilities, comprising 43.7 per cent, followed by schooling/ training reasons at 41.6 per cent.

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Baharudin Mohamad

Public Relation Officer

Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my

Phone: 03 8885 7942

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