Malaysia unemployment rate drops to 3-year low on broad recovery

MALAYSIA’S jobless rate fell to 3.5 per cent in February as growth in all sectors of the economy led to increased labour demand, according to the nation’s Department of Statistics.

Labour force participation in the South-east Asian nation climbed to 69.9 per cent, the highest in records going back to 2010, causing the overall jobless rate to drop to the lowest since February 2020, the data show.

The labour market’s recovery from the pandemic is expected to continue in line with the broad economy, which is forecast to grow between 4 per cent to 5 per cent in 2023.

Malaysia is Asia’s leading provider of semiconductors to the US, and has seen a spurt in the export values of electrical and electronics products in recent months. Shipments of E&E products rose almost 12 per cent to RM44.3 billion (S$13.4 billion) in February from a year earlier, the data show. BLOOMBERG