KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): Malaysia’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest in a decade as the number of people employed rose amid an expanding labour force, official data on Wednesday showed.

Unemployment rate in April was 3.0%, the lowest since April 2015, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement. Economists generally consider a 3% unemployment rate as the economy having full employment.

“The country’s labour force is anticipated to remain optimistic and expand in the coming months of 2025, bolstered by strong economic policies and stable domestic demand,” DOSM commented.

Despite the global geopolitical tensions, Malaysia’s labour force is seen to remain resilient due to stable unemployment, the growing services sector and technology, as well as an increasing investment in digitalisation and automation, the department added.

During the month, the number of unemployed persons fell to 525,900 in April from 529,600 in March. The labour force, meanwhile, expanded 0.2% to 17.34 million. Labour force participation rate, the proportion of employed persons within the entire working population, edged up 0.1 percentage point to 70.8%.

The employee category, comprising the large majority of the workforce, saw a 0.2% increase to 12.63 million persons. Own-account workers — people who operate their own farm or business, or engage in full-time trade without hiring paid employees — gained 0.6% to 3.16 million persons.

By economic sectors, most of the employed persons were concentrated in the services sector, with DOSM noting an “increasing trend, particularly in wholesale-and-retail trade; accommodation and food-and-beverage services; and transportation-and-storage activities.

The manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and mining and quarrying sectors also saw an increase in employment.

In terms of age groups, unemployment for youths — those between 15 and 24 years old and just entering the labour market following education — was unchanged at 10.3%, or about 298,300 people.