PUTRAJAYA (Oct 10): August’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2%, registering 558,500 unemployed persons, according to the Labour Force Statistics for August released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Thursday.

The rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 3.2%, after nine months registering a rate of 3.3%.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said Malaysia’s labour market in August continued to expand, driven by encouraging economic growth with a continuous increase in the number of employed persons, while the number of unemployed persons continues to decline, as well as the unemployment rate.

“In this regard, the number of the labour force in August 2024 strengthened further, with a month-on-month increase of 0.1% to record 17.22 million persons (July 2024: 17.20 million persons).

“The number of employed persons portrayed a growth of 0.2% to 16.66 million persons in August 2024, up from 16.63 million persons in July 2024,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

On the contrary, he said the number of unemployed persons reduced to 558,500, with a decline of 0.9% (July 2024: 563,700 persons).

Commenting further, Mohd Uzir said the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 10.4%, with 303,000 unemployed youths (July 2024: 10.5%; 304,500 persons).

Similarly, the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 30 also went down by 0.1 percentage points to 6.4%, recording 428,500 unemployed youth, as compared to the previous month (July 2024: 6.5%; 433,100 persons).

On the employment situation, he added that most of the employed persons were dominated by the employees’ category, encompassing 75.0%.

“In August 2024, this category showed a 0.2% increase to record 12.50 million persons, compared to 12.48 million persons in July 2024. In the meantime, the own-account workers category remained on its positive trend and rose by 0.3% to 3.08 million persons (July 2024: 3.07 million persons),” he added.

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