Day: February 18, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia’s labour market has regained momentum in the fourth quarter of last year, recording higher labour participation while labour demand picked up, said Chief Statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

He said the positive development was made possible as businesses operated with full employment capacity in longer operation hours as well as schools and educational institutions were opened with the admission of students in stages during the quarter.

On the social front, he said the removal of the interstate travel ban coupled with permission to organise social and recreational events had also stimulated domestic tourism activity.

“The positive development had resulted in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to rebound by 3.6 per cent after a contraction in the previous quarter. Consequently, employment continued to trend up in this quarter while demand for labour surged and attributed to the lowest unemployment rate since the pandemic hit this country,” he said in a statement Friday.

In terms of labour supply, Mohd Uzir said higher labour participation was observed in this quarter reflected by labour force participation rate (LFPR) which edged up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year to 68.7 per cent (Q4 2020: 68.5 per cent).

He said the number of the labour force rose 1.3 per cent to record 16.14 million persons, predominantly contributed by the increment of 1.8 per cent in employed persons which accounted for 15.44 million persons (Q4 2020: 15.16 million).

“On the contrary, the number of unemployed persons lessened by 8.7 per cent to 694.4 thousand persons (Q4 2020: 760.7 thousand). This was also the first time unemployment eased to below 700 thousand since the pandemic hit.

“After continually challenging unemployment situation, the national unemployment rate slipped 0.5 percentage points year-on-year to 4.3 per cent (Q4 2020: 4.8 per cent) registering the lowest rate since the public health crisis,” he added.

Elaborating on the performance of labour demand, the chief statistician said total jobs in the economic sector picked up for the first time after continuous decline for the last six quarters, registering a growth of 0.9 per cent year-on-year to 8.53 million jobs (Q4 2020: 8.46 million), the highest during the public health crisis.

He said filled jobs which comprised of 97.8 per cent of jobs rose 0.8 per cent to 8.35 million (Q4 2020: 8.28 million), while job vacancies which made another 2.2 per cent of jobs surged 4.4 per cent to 183.6 thousand vacancies compared to 175.9 thousand recorded in the same quarter of 2020.

“Better labour demand situation during the quarter was also indicated by the 25.0 per cent increase in the number of jobs created, accounting for 20.9 thousand,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said preliminary estimates based on monthly average data indicated that the number of employed persons surged 3.0 per cent to 15.40 million persons in 2021, exceeding 15.07 million recorded during the pre-pandemic period in 2019, while the number of unemployed persons increased further by 4.3 per cent to 741.4 thousand (2020: 711.0 thousand).

He said the unemployment rate recorded during the year was at 4.6 per cent in 2021, went up 0.1 percentage point from 2020 (4.5 per cent).

“Thus, the number of labour force rose by 3.0 per cent to 16.14 million persons while LFPR edged up by 0.2 percentage points to 68.6 per cent,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said the year 2021 has also observed improvement in the labour demand as jobs in the private sector increased to 8.53 million after declining 2.4 per cent in 2020 (8.46 million).

Nevertheless, the chief statistician said the level of jobs in 2021 was still lower than 8.66 million jobs recorded in 2019 amid the socioeconomic restrictions to contain the pandemic which prolonged into 2021.

“Similarly, a total of 69.5 thousand jobs were created in 2021, lesser than 73.3 thousand jobs created in the prior year,” he added.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia’s trade in January 2022 continued to be resilient, expanding 24.8 per cent to RM203.05 billion (RM1 = US$0.24) compared to that of January 2021, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said.

In a statement today, MITI said exports accelerated 23.5 per cent to RM110.73 billion in January 2022, the sixth successive month of double-digit expansion since August 2021, while imports increased 26.4 per cent to RM92.32 billion and trade surplus grew 10.9 per cent to RM18.4 billion.

The ministry said export expansion was underpinned by higher global demand primarily for exports of electrical and electronics (E&E) products, as well as palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Malaysia posted higher double-digit exports from most major markets, namely ASEAN, China, the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and Japan.

Compared to December 2021, trade, exports, imports and trade surplus declined 6.3 per cent, 10.6 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 40.6 per cent, respectively, due to high base effect and seasonal factors following new year holidays.

“In January 2022, all major sectors recorded double-digit year-on-year (yoy) expansion, supported by significant export growth for almost all key products.

“Exports of manufactured goods, which made up 85.5 per cent of total exports, grew 19.3 per cent to RM94.67 billion,” it said.

MITI said electric and electronics (E&E) products, manufactures of metal, petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products, palm oil-based manufactured products, as well as machinery, equipment and parts each recorded over RM1 billion increase in exports.

In addition, exports of agriculture goods (7.9 per cent share) surged 75.6 per cent to RM8.77 billion, the 11th consecutive month of double-digit growth since March 2021, and the growth was boosted by strong exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Exports of mining goods (6.2 per cent share) edged up 38.4 per cent to RM6.82 billion, the 10th successive month of double-digit growth since April 2021, on the back of higher exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In January 2022, trade with ASEAN took up 25.7 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade leaped by 21.4 per cent yoy to RM52.23 billion.

MITI said exports expanded 19.5 per cent to RM30.76 billion following robust exports of petroleum products and E&E products, while imports from ASEAN climbed 24.2 per cent to RM21.48 billion.

It said exports to most ASEAN countries recorded significant increases notably to Singapore, growing RM2.11 billion due to higher exports of petroleum products.

Exports to Thailand and Vietnam registered an increase of RM902.2 million and RM689.4 million, respectively, attributed to higher exports of E&E products, Indonesia (+RM850.2 million, petroleum products) as well as the Philippines (+RM240.5 million, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products).

Likewise, trade with China edged up 33.7 per cent yoy to RM39.99 billion in January 2022, the 14th consecutive month of double-digit growth.

“Exports to China rose 28.7 per cent to RM16.88 billion, the fifth consecutive month of double-digit expansion since September 2021, driven by strong exports of E&E products and LNG, while imports from China increased 37.6 per cent to RM23.12 billion,” it said.

The ministry said trade with the US which accounted for 9.1 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade grew 16.2 per cent yoy to RM18.51 billion, with exports rose 17.7 per cent to RM12.14 billion underpinned mainly by growing exports of E&E products, while imports from the US up 13.3 per cent to RM6.37 billion, in January 2022.

It added that total trade with the EU in January 2022 widened 24.5 per cent yoy to RM16.46 billion, registering the 12th consecutive month of double-digit growth.

“Exports increased 14.6 per cent to RM9.19 billion on account of higher exports of E&E products, palm oil and palm oil-based products, as well as iron and steel products, while imports from the EU climbed 40 per cent to RM7.27 billion,” it said.

Meanwhile, trade with Japan, which made up 6.3 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade leaped 10.2 per cent yoy to RM12.85 billion in January 2022.

Exports edged up 10 per cent to RM7.13 billion, the 11th successive month of double-digit expansion since March 2021, underpinned by strong exports of manufactures of metal, LNG as well as iron and steel products.

On the other hand, imports from Japan grew 10.5 per cent to RM5.72 billion.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK