Overview

Overview

Malaysia's labour market remained strong and resilient in the First Quarter of 2026, with the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) at 70.9 per cent and Labour Demand improving, as reflected by a Job Vacancies Rate of 2.1 per cent.

Key Reviews

• The labour market remained resilient in the first quarter of 2026 despite the conflict in West Asia, supported by increment of labour force by 0.9 per cent year-on-year to 17.23 million persons. Consequently, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 70.9 per cent.
• The number of employed persons continued to expand by 1.0 per cent to 16.73 million persons, while the employment-to-population ratio increased to 68.8 per cent. At the same time, the number of unemployed persons declined by 3.1 per cent (-16.0 thousand) to 506.5 thousand persons, resulting in an unemployment rate of 2.9 per cent.
• The number of employed persons working less than 30 hours per week continued to record a decline of 4.1 per cent from a year ago to 231.6 thousand persons, supported by strong domestic demand throughout the first quarter of 2026. Correspondingly, the skill-related underemployment rate, which accounted more than one-third of employed persons with tertiary-education, decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 35.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, while the time-related underemployment rate also declined to 0.7 per cent.
• Labour demand recorded an increase in the number of jobs by 1.8 per cent year-on-year to 9.23 million jobs. Within this total, 97.9 per cent were filled job also rose by 1.8 per to reach 9.03 million. Meanwhile during the same period vacancies recorded marginal increase of 0.4 per cent to 194.8 thousand. However, the number of jobs created lessened by 1.5 per cent year-on-year to 32.7 thousand.
• Malaysia’s economy expanded by 5.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 as compared to 4.4 per cent in the previous year of the same quarter. Labour productivity, as measured by value added per employed person, increased by 4.3 per cent to RM26,171 per person. During the same period, total hours worked rose by 0.5 per cent to 9.63 billion hours. Consequently, labour productivity per hour worked grew by 4.8 per cent, reaching RM45.5 per hour.

• Overall, although Malaysia’s current labour market situation remains stable and resilient, supported by domestic economic growth, the government needs to ensure a balance between price stability, maintaining consumer purchasing power and economic sustainability. At the same time, continuous efforts should be intensified to enhance productivity, strengthen skills development and ensure more inclusive and sustainable labour market growth amid the current economic uncertainties.

The full publication of Labour Market Review (LMR), First Quarter 2026 can be downloaded through eStatistik Portal.

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA
22 May 2026

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