KUALA LUMPUR (March 11): Malaysia’s unemployment rate held steady in January as the number of people with jobs rose in an expanded labour force, official data showed.

The overall unemployment rate was 2.9% in January, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement on Wednesday. Economists generally consider an unemployment rate of 3% or less as full employment.

“Malaysia's labour market in the coming months is anticipated to remain favourable, with the unemployment rate remaining low, reflecting a strong labour force condition,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

During the month, the number of unemployed rose marginally to 509,600 persons compared with 508,000 persons a month earlier. The labour force, meanwhile, expanded 0.1% month-on-month to 17.28 million persons.

The labour force participation rate, the proportion of persons employed or looking for work, edged up to 70.9% in January 2026 from 70.8% in December 2025.

“Labour force participation is also foreseen to remain stable following a balanced recovery in the services, tourism and technology export sectors,” Uzir said.

Employment opportunities are also rising in high-tech and services subsectors, driven by automation, artificial intelligence, digital and foreign investment, he flagged.

The employee category, comprising the majority of the workforce, was a tad higher at 12.59 million persons. Own-account workers — people who operate their own farm or business, or engage in full-time trade without hiring paid employees — grew to 3.13 million persons.

Unemployment among youths, people aged between 15 and 24 and just entering the labour market following education, improved to 289,700 persons from 291,900 in December 2025. As a percentage of the total cohort, the rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 10.2%.

For youths aged 15 to 30 years, the unemployment rate stood at 6.2%, with 390,500 unemployed youths recorded during the month.

Across the economy, nearly eight in 10 unemployed people were actively seeking work while 64% had been unemployed for less than three months. Those experiencing long-term unemployment, defined as being jobless for more than a year, accounted for 5.1% of the actively unemployed.

The number of inactively unemployed, or those who believed that there were no jobs available, was 102,800 persons, an increase of 0.3% from the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the number of people working less than 30 hours per week increased by 0.8% to 242,700 persons in January.

Time-related underemployment — those working fewer than 30 hours per week but willing and available to work additional hours — rose 1.0% to 133,500 persons, although the underemployment rate remained unchanged at 0.8%.