Malaysia’s jobless rate stays at decade-low, official July data show
By theedgemalaysia.com
10 Sep 2025, 04:14 pm

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10): Malaysia’s jobless rate remained at decade-low level in July, as the number of employed persons rose amid an expanding labour force, official data showed.

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

“The labour market sustained its positive trajectory, underpinned by continued improvements in domestic economics despite global economic uncertainty,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

Malaysia’s labour market is expected to remain stable with positive “prospects in the coming months,” he said. Despite external challenges, strong domestic fundamentals, investments, and government policies will continue supporting employment growth, he added.

During the month, the number of unemployed persons rose 0.6% to 521,600 persons. The labour force, meanwhile, expanded 0.2% month-on-month to 17.47 million persons. Labour force participation rate, the proportion of employed persons within the entire working population, was steady at 70.8%.

The employee category, comprising the large majority of the workforce, was a tad higher at 12.71 million persons. Own-account workers — people who operate their own farm or business, or engage in full-time trade without hiring paid employees — gained 0.4% to 3.21 million persons.

By economic sectors, most of the employed persons were concentrated in the services sector, with DOSM noting “favourable momentum” particularly in wholesale-and-retail trade; accommodation, and food-and-beverage services, as well as information and communication 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 little changed at 10.2%, or about 297,500 people.

Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/769951

asalkan kito bule buat grabbie or footpandatz or syiokpeez... ado la keje

nice...minister dapat idea from US ....stats putar

Looking across the Melaka, hopefully we wont end up the same...owai

thank goodness we don't have 270 million people stomach to feed.

but with our birth rates going sky high soon gonna become like that.

especially in the eastern.

That is because the civil service is overstaffed. Can easily cut off 30% deadwood.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/202...aby-bust/176836

"Terengganu has the highest fertility rate at 2.9, followed by Kelantan at 2.7, and Pahang at 2.1."

2.9 and 2.9 fertility rate is not "sky high", albeit I suppose it is if one's baseline is a fertility rate of 0.8

ok but I encounter some families there like got 13 kids

can replace our lower fertilities elsewhere easily

There are also Japanese families with 13 kids; this doesn't mean they don't have population decline problems












Seeing 1, 2, 10, families with 13 kids doesn't counterbalance the wider macro trend

In the end dog eat dog .....

Quit low. I know some people after they were last let go (with compensation) then chose to slow down - don't want to actively look for new job

Org dah sikit, jadi rate semua akan kurang juga. Sikit masa nanti Hosp katil usage rate juga kurang.

Rokek also say inflation still low only 1.2%

statistics can be easily massaged.

Do a simple count.

employees - 12.71m
own account - 3.21m
unemployed - 0.5m
Total - 16.42m

Where is the balance of the 34m population?

There are still an additional 7.2+m people who are categorised as "outside labour force".

Why some people focus on the 0.5m but miss 7m?

In comparison, sinkieland register 4m labour force on a 6m population (with unemployment 0.1m).

This post has been edited by takbodoh722: Sep 11 2025, 09:59 AM

cant land a proper job , then do grab / dispatch .

People who are under 18 tend to not be in the labour force. There is no point counting people who are in kindergarten as "unemployed"

People who are retired

People who are not in the workforce: housewife, caring for elderly family members, etc

1.9 million out of a population of 6 million is about 30% of the population

7.2 million out of a population of 34 milion is about 21% of the population

Similar ratios

The age breakdown is ~10m population for those age 0-19. Its 3.1m for those 20-24 and ~2.7m population for those age 65 and above.

34-10-2.7 = 21.3m should represent the full labour force (20-64).

Even if minus 3.1 assuming everyone doesn't work until age 25 in bolehland and no one works beyond 64, there is still an under-accounting of the labour force of ~2m.

The housewife segment should be pretty big, otherwise people retire very early.

I wouldn't pat the back just because someone only record 0.5m as unemployment.

What are the age groups eligibility to fit into the calculation of employment workforces?

In practice it should be age 15 and above to include into labour force. 15-24 is considered youth employment.

Life expendency naik
so... hospital katil usage rate pun akan naik
Unless WW3, Covid 2.0++, or............kasi end of the world

Labour force has a specific meaning, and excludes those who are not seeking work (including housewives, people on sabbaticals, those living off otger incomes etc). It's not just based on age.

7.2+ million people can work but not seeking work in Bolehland.....

Only 0.5 million people can work and seeking work in Bolehland.....

Clearly a lot of unemployed on sabbatical.

funny how some people want pat on back for only 0.5m looking for work.

This post has been edited by takbodoh722: Sep 11 2025, 01:33 PM

thats because of gigwork la bodo

alot of ppl don't have a proper employed, stable job and is furiously searching.

i know 2, TWO dudes who got layout, last time pay 15k+ nett, now still doing grab+shopee deliveries

Thanks for gig economy
Everybody can have a job

Having a job and having a job with decent salary is 2 different things, unemployment rate can be low but if the pay is not good in general, then…

Macai ma!

our inflation and minimal salary still leads vs thailand & indonesia .

its fair benchmark since - the world is suffering from high inflation over recent years.

Not just on sabbatical

There are people who are full time housewives (especially in states like Kelantan and Terengganu), raising the 13 kids that /k believes they pop out

There are people who can't work

I know 2 people who live off their parents pencen while taking care of them with long term medical conditions. It is not a luxurious life, but doable when the house is paid off

2 million sounds like a large number, but that is about 6% of the population

It's literally how the labour force is calculated internationally. What youre referring earlier is the working-age population.

The labour force participation rate is the figure that connects the two. Malaysia's (70.8%, as reported in the article) is comparable to Singapore and higher than China.

Jobless rate don't count the gig jobs la.

Those don't have EPF which is needed to do the rate calculation.

if no one's looking for work because ada mysara then how?

Maximum rate of MySARA is RM2100/year. And that is only for "isi rumah" (read: married couples with kid(s))

If they can live on RM2100/year with at least 3 mouths to feed, more power to them.

Labour force participation rate is the percentage of the labour force to the population aged fifteen years & over.

Malaysia population 15 y/o onwards is 26.4 million.

70.8% means labour force of 18.7 million.

12.71 million +3.21 million + 0.5 million = 16.5 million. Still missing 2.2 million.

Not sure why you want to do your own calculations (which miss out things like employers (which are diff than own account workers) and unpaid family workers), when dosm has already done the work for you.

https://www.dosm.gov.my/portal-main/release...stics-july-2025

The dataset is linked at the bottom of the page.

Labour force participation rate among Malay women is around the 55% mark:
https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2023.2259663
http://www.statistics.gov.my/uploads/conte...41218122140.pdf

Yes there are a lot of women (who make up half the population) who are not in the workforce, despite being in the 15-64 age range

This post has been edited by haya: Sep 12 2025, 07:03 AM

ok

Retirees n bayi bayis baharu lahir semalam

With advancing AI.
now isnt the worst yet

Lol malaysia have so much job even bangla come here and make a living .

So many 3r jobs / factories alot wanna hire -

ALL SALARY 2.5/3k above

U know how lucky malaysian are ? To sit at where we are and complain the job too boring and only bangla can do such job and have the option to pick.

While a bunch of u guys here say gig economy save these unemployed people - LOL - they did it coz they wnt freedom ma -

Ask them go find factory job or convenience store la -

Every day ada vacancy -

Or work for starbucks la - they pay 3k plus lodging

Alasan banyak - coz gig worker can do part time rempit and rompak also kot.

Coz they cant discipline kot-

Lol we are one of those countries can export so much foreigners- that the entire KLCC on weekends belong to them .


And yet the local we breed r there whining -

Nowonder their woman prefer bangla / pakistani people more and more .

Coz they r hardworking and didnt whine like a bitch. Easily have more money that the rempit boys we always see on the road

All their life - they only know how to blame blame blame - semua salah tuhan dan kerajaan- spoiled

This post has been edited by badmilk: Sep 11 2025, 08:26 PM