• Steady growth in labor force
• Employment continued its positive trajectory
• Unemployed persons persisted in decline
• Unemployment rate maintained at 3.2%
• Malaysia’s labor market outlook remains stable in 2025

OVERVIEW

Malaysia's labor market stayed positive in November 2024, reflecting strong economic performance. The labor force in November 2024 grew by 0.1% MoM to record 17.29mn individuals, up from 17.27mn individuals in the month before. Looking closer, the number of employed individuals has steadily increased by 0.2% MoM for the past sixth consecutive month to 16.75mn persons. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed slipped by 0.9% MoM to 546.7 thousand persons. Additionally, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) maintained at a record-high 70.5% for the third consecutive month. Lastly, the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.2% for the fourth straight months (Oct: 3.2%), the lowest level since January 2020.

The number of employed persons remained expansionary, rising by 0.2% from 16.72mn persons in October to 16.75mn persons (+29.5k persons) in November. Meanwhile, the number of employed individuals increased by 1.9% YoY (+ 315.9k persons) from 16.43mn individuals in November 2023. During the month, the employment-to-population ratio, a gauge of an economy's employment creation capability, rose by 0.1% points from the previous month to 68.3% (Oct: 68.2%). Comparatively, this ratio recorded 0.5 percentage points growth from 67.8% in November 2023.

In November 2024, the Services sector saw continued growth in employment, particularly in Wholesale & Retail Trade, Transportation & Storage, and Information & Communication activities. This positive performance was also evident in the Manufacturing, Construction, Mining & Quarrying, and Agriculture sectors.

By employment status, most of the employment came from the formal sector (employees: 74.9%, employers: 3.6%), while the informal sector (proxied by own-account workers) accounted for 18.6% of total recruitment in November. The remaining 2.9% were unpaid family workers. Recruitment in the employees' category rose marginally by 0.1% MoM to 12.54mn persons as compared to 12.53mn persons in previous month. The number of employed persons of the own account workers category grew by 0.4% MoM to 3.11mn persons (Oct: 3.10mn persons).

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 13 Jan 2025