Economic sector records 177,900 job vacancies in Q1 2021

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase of job vacancies during the quarter was in line with the improvement in economic performance.

He said the wholesale and retail trade sales value registered the first positive year-on-year growth of 9.3 per cent while the Industrial Production Index (IPI) surged 9.3 per cent in March 2021 during the same period.

"Comparing with pre-crisis duration, the number of job vacancies had yet to revive to the normal level which recorded an average of 200,000 job vacancies," he said in a statement in conjunction with the release of Report Of Employment Statistics, First Quarter 2021 today.

The report is based on the Employment Survey conducted on registered businesses in the private sector and it presents labour demand statistics, encompassing jobs, filled jobs, vacancies and jobs created by skill categories and economic activities.

Mohd Uzir said more than half of job vacancies in the first quarter of this year were in the semi-skilled category, accounting for 55.5 per cent or equivalent to 98,700 job vacancies, followed by the skilled category at 23.5 per cent (41,800) and 21.0 per cent in the low-skilled category (37,400).

By economic sector, most of the job vacancies were in the manufacturing sector recording 100,900 job vacancies (56.7%), primarily in the electrical, electronic and optical products sub-sector (30,600) followed by petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (18,700).

Job vacancies in the agriculture sector encompassed 28,500 job vacancies (16.0%) largely in the crops and livestock sub-sector and there were 26,800 job vacancies (15.1%) in the services sector particularly in wholesale and retail trade activity, he said.

Commenting on the overall jobs situation during the first quarter of 2021, Mohd Uzir said the number of jobs in the economic sector continued to decrease since the last four consecutive quarters to 8.437 million jobs, edging down by 1.5 per cent year-on-year (Q1 2020: -2.4%).

"The figures signified that despite the increase of job vacancies, the number of jobs was still lower as compared to the pre-crisis situation. Rate of filled jobs during the quarter remained at 97.9 per cent, equivalent to 8.260 million filled jobs," he said.

Analysing year-on-year performance, the number of jobs created in the first quarter of 2021 fell by 4,500 jobs (Q1 2020: 21,900) with skilled category remained in decreasing trend whereas both semi and low-skilled categories posted increases, he said.

On the breakdown by economic sector, he said the manufacturing sector recorded the largest composition of jobs created at 42.4 per cent or 7,400 jobs, followed by the services sector at 36.6 per cent (6,400 jobs).

"Considering the current health crisis, the first quarter of 2021 indicated a modest recovery momentum of labour demand in Malaysia, among others due to the relaxation of some restrictions imposed at the beginning stage of the Movement Control Order starting January this year," he said.

Mohd Uzir said nonetheless, various incentives and stimulus packages issued by the government was foreseen to improve the economic growth and subsequently facilitate and accelerate the labour market's recovery pace.