KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s labour market recorded a year-on-year improvement in the second quarter, spurred by increased economic and social activities primarily during the early part of the period.
Nevertheless, the improvement was still below pre-pandemic levels, as the country’s labour market was marred by movement restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said the Statistics Department.
In its labour market review for the second quarter of 2021 released yesterday, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin (pic below) said the full movement control order was implemented on June 1, following a steep rise in daily Covid-19 cases and corresponding death rates.
Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin
“At this point, the permission to operate was only granted to essential activities encompassing selected manufacturing sub-sectors, food and beverage, securities, health and medical services, banking and communications.”
“However, this situation was different from the same quarter of the previous year, as up to 60% of workers of essential private sectors were allowed on site.”
Indicative of more people participating in the labour force compared with the same quarter of the preceding year, Mohd Uzir said the labour force participation rate went up by 0.2 percentage points to 68.3% in the second quarter of 2021.
“The number of employed persons rose 2.2% to record 15.21 million persons, compared with 14.88 million persons in the second quarter of 2020.
“Meanwhile, unemployment levels eased by 3.4% to 764,900 persons, resulting in the decrease in the unemployment rate by 0.3 percentage points to 4.8%.”
Nevertheless, Mohd Uzir said unemployment levels remained high, compared with the average of 500,000 persons recorded during the pre-Covid-19 period.
“Thus, the labour force in the second quarter of 2021 grew 1.9%, registering 15.97 million persons while external labour rose 1% to 7.42 million persons.”
Carmelo Ferlito.
During the quarter under review, Mohd Uzir said the number of employed persons working less than 30 hours per week reduced to 474,100 persons, compared with 789,600 persons in the second quarter of 2020.
“Subsequently, the number in time-related underemployment or those who were able and willing to work additional hours reduced to 329,700 persons from 413,500 persons in the second quarter of 2020, with a rate of 2.2% against 2.8% in the second quarter of 2020.”
Meanwhile, tertiary-educated employed persons in skill-related underemployment rose to 1.85 million persons in the second quarter of 2021, compared with 1.67 million persons in the previous corresponding period.
“The rate of skill-related underemployment remained elevated at 37.7% against 36.5% in the second quarter of 2020, signalling prolonged structural issues in terms of skills mismatch,” said Mohd Uzir.
In terms of labour demand, Mohd Uzir said the total number of jobs in the economic sector improved with a smaller year-on-year decrease of 0.4% against negative 1.7% in the previous quarter, registering a total of 8.35 million.
“During the same period, filled jobs which comprised 97.9% or equivalent to 8.17 million jobs, reduced by 0.5%. Job openings or vacancies that encompassed 2.1% of total jobs, meanwhile, rose 5% to 178,000 as compared with 169,500 in the previous corresponding period.
“During the second quarter of 2021, the number of jobs created increased 18.3% to record 16,200 jobs after recording an all-time low of 13,700 jobs in the second quarter of last year,” he said.
Moving forward, Centre for Market Education chief executive officer Dr Carmelo Ferlito said the lockdowns need to be lifted immediately and economic policies have to be radically changed to avert future job risks.
“Currently, hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk, while the purchasing power of the people is threatened by the inflation created by supply-side shocks and expansive fiscal and monetary policies.”
Additionally, Ferlito said the new government should implement clearer and faster strategies to normalise business conditions, with the commitment to avoid future lockdowns.
“Strong leadership and political support are equally necessary.
“But competence and vision are also important for driving the country back to the growth path,” he said.