3/9/2021 11:04:51 AM GMT
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By Pablo Piovano
UOB Group’s Senior Economist Julia Goh and Economist Loke Siew Ting assess the latest labour market figures in the Malaysian economy.
Key Quotes
“Malaysia’s unemployment rate climbed further to a 7-month high of 4.9% in Jan (Dec: 4.8%) after the reinstatement of Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) starting 13 Jan. Number of unemployed rose by 1.2% or 9.7 thousand from the previous month to 782.5k (Dec: +1.1% to 772.9k), while the labour force participation rate inched up to 68.5% (Dec: 68.4%).”
“Overall employment improved for the second straight month by 0.1% or 21.9 thousand from the previous month to 15.24m in Jan (Dec: +0.1% m/m to 15.22m)… While the construction sector turned around to register an increase in employment, both agriculture and mining & quarrying sectors continued to record declines in hiring for seven months.”