Pandemic puts Malaysia's underemployment problem under the spotlight

Kuala Lumpur

THE ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has pushed Malaysia's jobless rate to a 27-year high in 2020, but it is underemployment arising from structural issues in the economy that could be a bigger problem that the country must tackle, according to analysts and government authorities.

Malaysia's unemployment rate climbed to 4.5 per cent last year, the highest since 1993 and above the average of 3 per cent before the crisis.