• Employment grew by 2.1% yoy

• The number of unemployed persons increased 1.7% yoy

• Labor force stable at 2.1% yoy

• Labor force participation rate down to 68.7%

• Unemployment rate inched up to 3.3% in February

• Jobless rate to rise on Covid-19 impact

Employment grew by 2.1% to 15.35m persons in February 2020, slightly lower than 2.2% yoy growth in January. Meanwhile, on monthly basis it expanded by only 0.18% as only 26.9k jobs were added in February as compared to January’s 31.6k. Likewise, the number of labour force in this month rose 2.1% yoy to 15.87m persons. The labour force participation rate in February decreased 0.2 percentage points to 68.7% as compared to the previous month but increased 0.2 percentage points as compared to the same month in the previous year (Feb’19: 68.5%).

The unemployment rate in February increased slightly to 3.3% as compared to 3.2% in January. During this month, the number of unemployed accounted for 525,200 persons, increased 2.6% mom and 1.7% yoy. Unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) in February also increased to 3.3% as compared to 3.2% in the previous month.

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 14 Apr 2020