KUALA LUMPUR: The Statistics Department has revealed that the labour force in the country has increased 2.0 per cent to 15.6 million persons last year as compared to 15.3 million persons in 2018.
According to the Malaysia Labour Force Survey Report 2019, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said employed persons had increased 297.4 thousand persons last year.
"Labour force participation rate (LFPR) in 2019 increased 0.4 percentage points to 68.7 per cent as compared to 68.3 per cent in 2018.
"Hence, the remaining 31.3 per cent of the working age population was outside the labour force.
"Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in 2019 remained at 3.3 per cent," he said in a statement.
The unemployment rate in 2019, he said, was not affected by the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mohd Uzir also said in January, the unemployment rate was 3.2 per cent and had risen to 3.3 per cent in February.
"The impact of the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented following the Covid-19 outbreak by World Health Organisation on March 11 is expected to be reflected in the labour force indicator for March this year and overall of 2020.
"Female in the LFPR rose 0.4 percentage points to 55.6 per cent in 2019. The participation of female in the labour market for the prime age groups namely 25 to 34 years (73.7 per cent), 35 to 44 years (68.0 per cent) and 45 to 54 years (58.9 per cent) were higher compared to female LFPR at the national level 1.
"Meanwhile, the participation of male labour force was 80.8 per cent in 2019, an increased of 0.4 percentage point as compared to the previous year," he said.
He said the LFPR for male age group of 15 to 24 years recorded the highest increase of 2.2 percentage points to 53.2 per cent.
Age group of 25 to 34 years also recorded an increase 0.4 percentage points to 96.1 per cent, he said, adding that the male LFPR was still higher than female for all age groups.