PUTRAJAYA (Nov 9): The unemployment rate dropped slightly in September 2020 as the number of unemployed fell by 0.6% month-on-month to record 737,500 persons from 741,600 persons in August, according to Statistics of Labour Force, Malaysia, September 2020.

Conversely, employment continued to increase in September, where employed persons rose 0.3% to 15.19 million persons mainly in the manufacturing and services sectors, it said.

“In September 2020, a continuous recovery is seen in the country’s labour force supply amid the challenges to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic through various phases of the movement control order," said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin in commenting on the report in a statement today.

Nevertheless, he said a decline in employment was observed in the agriculture and construction sectors and that this may reflect shortages of labour supply in both sectors.

Mohd Uzir said the employment-to-population ratio for September remained at 65.2%.

Mohd Uzir said the labour market situation for the month could also be seen through the Loss of Employment (LOE) statistics reported by the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), which recorded a decrease of 20.2% to 7,388 persons in September as compared to the previous month (9,261 persons). 

Likewise, he said, the retrenchment numbers reported by the Labour Department also showed a declining trend, while MYFuture Jobs reported a total of 58,607 vacancies in the Employment Insurance System (EIS), compared to 49,811 jobseekers.

On employment status, Mohd Uzir said the employee’s category rose by 14,900 persons from the previous month to 11.73 million persons, with own-account workers up by 0.7% encompassing 2.43 million persons.

"As for the labour force, a total of 15.93 million persons registered in September with an increase of 0.2% from 15.90 million persons in August. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) remained at 68.4%," he said.

On labour supply situation during the third quarter of 2020, Mohd Uzir said after recording a high rate of unemployment at 5.1% in the second quarter, the quarter saw a decline to 4.7%.

In relation to the labour force statistics up to September and the current scenario, he said the Statistics Department had revised the forecast of the unemployment rate for 2020 ranging 4.4% to 4.7% as against the earlier forecast of 3.5% to 5.5%. 

"With this revised rate, the forecasted number of unemployed for the year 2020 will be in the range of 701,000 to 729,000 persons," Mohd Uzir said.