• Unemployment rate unchanged at 4.7%

• The number of unemployed persons fell by 3.5k to 741.6k in August

• Total labor force increased by 76.6k persons to 15.90 million

• Labor force participation rate improved to 68.4%

• Government initiatives helps in stabilising the job market but challenges linger

Employment recorded a marginal increase of 0.5% mom (Jul: 0.6%) to 15.15 million persons in August. In line with this, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, increased to 65.2% (Jul: 64.7%). It was observed that the monthly increase of employed person was in the range of 80 to 102 thousand persons since June 2020. Meanwhile, year-on-year comparison, employed persons declined by 0.2% as against August 2019 (15.19 million persons).

The unemployment rate in August remained at 4.7%. The number of unemployed persons decreased marginally month-on-month by 3.5 thousand persons to 741.6 thousand persons (Jul: 745.1 thousand persons). However, the unemployment rate was higher by 1.4 percentage points as against the same month of the previous year (Aug 2019: 3.3%) with the number of unemployed persons increased by 221.4 thousand persons from 520.2 thousand persons.

The number of labour force increased by 76.6 thousand persons to record 15.90 million persons as compared to July 2020. During the month, the LFPR improved 0.3 percentage points to 68.4%. Year-on-year comparison, the number of labour force rose to 189.1 thousand persons (1.2%) from 15.71 million persons in August 2019.

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 14 Oct 2020