Malaysia: Labour market forecast to recover – UOB

The Malaysian labour market is predicted to improve further in the next months, noted UOB Group’s Senior Economist Julia Goh and Economist Loke Siew Ting.

Key Quotes

“Malaysia’s labour market conditions were mixed in Sep with the unemployment rate improving to 4.6% (Aug: 4.7%) albeit employment growth slowed further to 0.3% (Aug: 0.5%). The labour force participation rate remained at 68.4% (vs. 68.1% in Apr).”

“As the labour market continues to face challenges from the pandemic, Budget 2021 that was tabled last Friday (6 Nov), saw MYR9bn worth of measures to generate and retain jobs including hiring incentives, reskilling and upskilling programs, short-term employment programs in the public sector and GLCs, and targeted wage subsidy program for the tourism and retail sectors.”

“The government expects the labor market to progressively recover as the economy improves with higher projected employment of 15.3 million (2020F: 15.1 million) and lower unemployment rate of 3.5% in 2021 (2020 F: 4.2%).”