PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s unemployment rate dropped from 3.1% in March to 3% in April, the lowest in 10 years, according to a report released by the statistics department today.
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the number of unemployed people decreased by 0.7% to 525,900 in April 2025, compared with 529,600 in March.
“A promising national economic position has contributed to stable progress in Malaysia’s labour force, with an increase in the number of employed people and higher labour force participation rates, while unemployment continues to decrease,” Bernama reported him as saying.
Uzir said labour force numbers continued their upward trend in April, increasing by 0.2% to 17.34 million people compared with 17.31 million in March.
“Consequently, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 70.8% compared with 70.7% in March,” he said.
In terms of the economic sector, Uzir said the services sector remains a key driver of employment growth, particularly in wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, food and beverage services, as well as transport and storage activities.
He said positive trends were also recorded across the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mining and quarrying sectors.
Uzir said the unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 24 years remained unchanged at 10.3% in April 2025, with 298.3 thousand unemployed youths.
He said the number of people outside the labour force rose to 7.17 million in April compared with 7.16 million the previous month, mainly due to housework and family responsibilities, which accounted for 43.7%, followed by schooling and training reasons at 41.1%.
He said the country’s labour force was expected to remain optimistic and expand in the coming months, bolstered by strong economic policies and stable domestic demand.
“Despite global geopolitical tensions, Malaysia’s labour force is expected to remain resilient due to stable unemployment, the growing services sector, and technology, as well as an increasing investment in digitalisation and automation,” he said.
