Senior Economist Julia Goh and Economist Loke Siew Ting at UOB Group comments on the recent publication of the labour market report in Malaysia.

Key Takeaways

“Malaysia’s labour market started the year of 2023 with marginal improvement. The nation’s unemployment declined for the 18th consecutive month by 3.5k or 0.6% m/m to 596.1k in Jan while the labour force expanded for the 19th month in a row by 25.4k or 0.2% m/m to a fresh record high of 16.8mn. This helped to keep the country’s unemployment rate steady at 3.6% for the fourth succeeding month.”

“Total employment improved further by 28.9k or 0.2% m/m to 16.2mn, a new record high. It was again driven by increased hiring across all economic sectors, led by the services and manufacturing industries.”

“We expect Malaysia’s labour market to maintain its softer recovery momentum this year, supported by various government initiatives to create and retain job opportunities as well as to raise the people’s income amid a moderate domestic growth outlook (MOF est: 4.5%, UOB est: 4.0%, 2022: 8.7%). Lingering global uncertainty and cautious business sentiment amid still high business operating costs are key deterrents to a stronger and faster improvement in the labour market at this juncture. We reiterate our year-end unemployment rate forecast of 3.2% for this year (vs MOF est: 3.5%-3.7%, end-2022: 3.6%).”