MALAYSIA’S unemployment rate has dropped to 4.8% in the second quarter of this year, says Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan (pic).

       “Based on the latest labour survey by the Statistics Department, unemployment had dropped by 0.3% to 4.8% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 5.1% in the second quarter of 2020,” he said in reply to a question from Datuk Ahmad Jazlan (BN-Machang) during the Minister’s Question Time.

       Ahmad Jazlan had asked the Human Resources Ministry to reveal the latest unemployment figures based on each state until August this year.

       Saravanan said Labuan had an unemployment rate of 8.8% while Sabah recorded 8.7%.

       “It means that of the 100 people who are employed in those states, nine people are unemployed,” he explained.

       During the same period, Perlis recorded an unemployment rate of 5.3%, while Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Selangor, Sarawak and Terengganu recorded an unemployment rate of more than 4%.

       For Kedah, Penang, Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan, each of the states saw an average unemployment rate of between 3.5% to 3.9%.

       “The lowest unemployment rate was recorded in Putrajaya at 1.7%.

       “This could be due to the high participation of the local residents who are employed as civil servants,” he explained.

       Saravanan said in total, seven states that recorded an unemployment rate of below 4% show that the economy in those states was still operating above full employment.

       “At the same time, the decrease of unemployment was recorded in seven states and territory namely Sabah, Perak, Sarawak, Kedah, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Putrajaya.

       “Although Selangor recorded the highest increase in terms of numbers who are in the workforce, it also saw a jump in unemployment from 161,300 to 165,000 individuals.

       “Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, recorded a total of 43,600 people who are unemployed which saw an additional 10,400 unemployed people compared to the same period last year,” he said.