M'sian labour demand rises 2.7pct in first quarter of 2023

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said demand for labour is seen to be improving in ST1 2023, with the total number of jobs increasing by 233,700 in the economic sector, recording 8.81 million jobs compared to 8.57 million jobs for the first quarter of 2022 (ST1 2022).

"This positive trend is an indication of the country's gradual economic recovery, supported by various government initiatives like job placement programmes, wage subsidies and tax incentives. For the record, the total number of jobs in the first quarter this year is the highest quarterly increase since 2018," he said in a statement on the Employment Statistics, First Quarter 2023 today.

He said a similar trend could be seen in the number of filled jobs, which rose by 2.7 per cent, recording 8.91 million in ST1 2023 compared to 8.39 million in ST1 2022, while job vacancies increased by 4.5 per cent to 192,600 this quarter.

The rate of filled jobs and job vacancies each remained at 97.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent, he said.

"This increase is, among others, supported by government initiatives on easing the foreign workers hiring rules through Foreign Worker Recruitment Relaxation Plan and Illegal Immigrant Recalibration Plan 2.0," he said.

Elaborating on the jobs filled this quarter, Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector recorded the highest growth at 3.8 per cent (2.32 million), followed by mining and quarrying (3.4 per cent) and agriculture (2.9 per cent).

In terms of composition, a total of 4.53 million jobs were filled (52.6 per cent) focused on the services sector, followed by manufacturing (2.32 million; 27 per cent) and construction (1.23 million; 14.3 per cent), with the semi-skilled category recording 5.39 million jobs, followed by the skilled category (2.15 million jobs) and low-skilled (1.08 million jobs).

"In connection with the recovering Malaysian economy, more job creations were recorded this quarter, covering 31,700 jobs created to meet the industry's needs.

"In terms of economic activities, the services sector had the biggest job creation of 50.8 per cent (16,100), especially in the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector with 8,700 (27.3 per cent). The manufacturing sector created 10,500 new jobs, with a share of 33.2 per cent mostly in the sub-sector of electrical, electronic and optical products (11 per cent; 3,500)," he said.

Mohd Uzir said the labour market position is expected to remain stable and expand in the coming months, supported by the current development of economic activities in Malaysia.