Unemployment rate falls in July 2020 to 4.7% compared to 4.

9% that was recorded in the

previous month. In conjunction, the number of unemployed persons experiences a decline to
745.1 thousand persons in July 2020 compared to 773.2 thousand persons back in June 2020.
This shows a slight improvement in terms of the employment rate as Malaysians are slowly
being able to get themselves a job as the MCO (Movement Control Order) relaxes with the
decrease in active cases of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the number of unemployed
persons is still significantly higher when compared between July 2019 and July 2020 with the
former having 524.8 thousand unemployed persons and the latter having an increase of 220.3
thousand unemployed persons. Among these unemployed individuals, actively unemployed
persons increased from 76.8% to 83.2% in July 2020, with those who have been experiencing
this matter for less than 3 months increasing by 2.9 percent at 307.4 thousand persons in this
month compared to June 2020 with 298.7 persons, whereas inactively unemployed people, also
known as the discouraged group who thought that there were no jobs available has lessened by
30.3%. Furthermore, individuals that are bound in long term unemployment of more than a
year occupied 9.2% of the total unemployment rate. Age-wise, adults aged 25 and over
experienced a decline in the rate of unemployment at whereas youths aged between 18 to 25
rose to 13.9%. However, the unemployment rate for the youths aged 15 to 30 years old
remained at 9.7%. The LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate) for male participants showed an
increase to 80.4% while the female participants remained unchanged, concluding with the fact
that both male and female LFPR dropped by 0.4% from 80.7% and 55.5% respectively. The
major factor that contributes to outside labour force is due to homework and schooling, with
homework taking main priority that drove the percentage rate to 45.4% and schooling following
up with 38.4%, becoming the few reasons why these individuals are unable to seek for work
and contribute to the work force.
Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has allocated RM5.3 billion towards the
extension of the wage subsidy programme. This is necessary to ensure that the labour market
recovers and continues to be robust and to support jobseekers. This also assists micro, small,
and medium enterprises in terms of wage subsidies as well as hiring and training assistants. This
is essential as many of those companies have been hit by a drop in business, especially during
the lockdown period. Apart from that, this programme also offers reskilling and upskilling to
ensure that there are enough trained personnel to fit employment needs. Most importantly,
social protection for the players in the gig economy to ensure that they have a safety net should
anything unforeseen happen to them, such as accidents and illness which will render them out
of commission. This wage subsidy programme has helped more than 2.6 million employees
throughout this period.
The economy is set to recover in the second half of this year unless it is hit by a new spike in
COVID-19 cases. The economy has seen gradual reopening and travelling activity has increased
since the implementation of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), which is a positive
outlook for domestic demand and the labour force. Technology enhancement and automation
will serve as opportunity for fresh graduates. With this, business models will move from purely
traditional to a more contemporary environment. This will be supported by government
initiatives to encourage innovation using technology in cross-sectoral business. One of the
programmes offered will provide training for online businesses which is popular today as
mobile technology becomes more advance. All these government initiatives will equip the
future workforce with the necessary skills.
The information in the technical notes are based on the standard guideline set up by the
International Labour Organization (ILO) and was obtained through an interview survey
conducted in both urban and rural areas in Malaysia. The population considers those in the
working age group from 15-64 living in private quarters and comprises of employed and
unemployed citizens. Those who are not classified as employed and unemployed will be
considered outside the labour force which includes housewives, students, retired, disabled
persons and those who do not want to look for a job. The labour force participation rate is the
ratio of the labour force to the working age population in percentage form. Unemployment rate
is the percentage of unemployed population in the labour force.
The Malaysian economic time series data is related to the major religious festivals in the
country and are determined by their respective religious calendars. These dates are not in line
with the Gregorian calendar and therefore will affect the time series data. As such, seasonal
adjustment must be conducted to avoid complication in data and trend estimates. Seasonal
adjustments remove the estimated effects of seasonal variation from the original series to
ensure that the influence on the data series is recognized. For example, during Eid-ul Fitr
celebrations, which has variations in dates which can fall in any month throughout the
Gregorian calendar according to the Islamic calendar, the buying power of consumers will peak
according to when the celebration falls. Given that the country predominantly practices Islam
as its official religion, this purchase trend will strongly affect the data. This adjustment in
Malaysia is overcome by using the Seasonal Adjustment for Malaysia (SEAM) which will remove
the holiday effect from the time series data in a statistical analysis software.
The population is characterized by age group, ethnicity, and state. At the moment, the
principal statistics of labour is based on current population estimates to make it more
consistent with the current population structure. Previously, estimates were made based on
population projections of the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia, which is conducted
every 10 years and therefore will be less accurate.
 The labour force report for July 2020 showed that unemployment has decreased. This can be
seen as a result of a strengthening economy post the Movement Control Order (MCO) which
began on March 18th, 2020 for six weeks. The labour force survey conducted showed that
there was significant increase in mainly the services sector because the tourism sector
reopened, and other recreational activities also resumed business. Nonetheless, unemployment
is still significantly higher if compared to data from a year ago. To assist in this recovery, the
government has tapped in an allocated an additional budget for the wage subsidy programme
which will see it help boost small and medium businesses as well as providing benefits to
employees. There is light at the end of the tunnel and Malaysia may bounce back positively
unless the pandemic becomes uncontrollable again.