Malaysia's unemployment rate in 2023 continued its downward trend, lessened by 0.5 percentage points to 3.4 per cent from 3.9 per cent in the previous year, official data showed Tuesday.

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The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the unemployment rate last year was almost returning to the pre-pandemic level of 3.3 per cent in 2019.

According to the DOSM, the number of unemployed persons decreased by 9.9 per cent year-on-year to 553,400 persons last year.
In 2023, the number of employed persons continued its positive growth, increasing by 4.3 per cent year-on-year to 15.81 million persons, Xinhua news agency reported.

Consequently, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, rose by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to 67.7 per cent.

In 2023, the number of Malaysia's labour force remained on its upward trajectory, posting a growth of 3.8 per cent. This brought the total labor force to 16.37 million persons compared to the previous year. Therefore, a higher labour force participation rate was recorded in 2023, increasing by 0.7 percentage points to a new highest level at 70 per cent.