Kota Kinabalu: Broader employment trends should be considered rather than focusing solely on the unemployment rate, said State Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe.
He acknowledged that Sabah has historically recorded the highest unemployment rate in Malaysia. The State’s unemployment rate peaked at 9.1 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic but has since declined to 7.7 per cent in the latest quarter.
“Recently, I saw certain individuals on TikTok claiming that the government has failed. “But what matters is how many people are employed. Has employment increased or decreased? That is the key indicator we need to examine,” he said.
Phoong highlighted that the number of employed individuals in Sabah has been steadily increasing.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, before the pandemic, Sabah had 1.99 million employed persons. This figure dropped during Covid-19 but rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
“Before Covid-19, the highest employment figure recorded was 1.999 million. “In early 2023, it surpassed two million for the first time, reaching 2.028 million. “This upward trend continued, with employment numbers rising to 2.128 million recently,” he said.
According to Phoong, this indicates that over the past two to three years, Sabah has successfully created between 100,000 and 200,000 new job opportunities.
“In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2022, employment has increased by 128,000. “The number of unemployed individuals has remained relatively stable, but the number of employed individuals has seen a significant rise.”
He noted that these statistics were provided by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
“In Malaysia, headlines often highlight Sabah’s high unemployment rate. “While unemployment is indeed a concern, we must also consider the overall employment growth,” he said.
Phoong also pointed out that Sabah’s demographic composition includes a substantial non-citizen population, which accounts for approximately 23 per cent. He said the government is analysing how this factor influences the employment data.
