Illustrative photo (Photo source:theedgemarkets.com)

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia posted a 2.7 per cent increase in the total number of jobs in the first quarter of this year to 8.81 million jobs compared to 8.57 million jobs in the same period last year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin on May 11 said the upward trend is an indication of the country’s gradual economic recovery, supported by various government initiatives like job placement programmes, wage subsidies, and tax incentives.

“For the record, the total number of jobs in the first quarter this year is the highest quarterly increase since 2018,” he said in a statement on the Employment Statistics, First Quarter 2023.

A similar trend could be seen in the number of filled jobs, which rose by 2.7 per cent, recording 8.91 million in 1Q2023 compared to 8.39 million in 1Q2022, while job vacancies increased by 4.5 per cent to 192,600 this quarter, he said.

Elaborating on jobs filled this quarter, Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector recorded the highest growth at 3.8 per cent (2.32 million), followed by mining and quarrying (3.4 per cent) and agriculture (2.9 per cent).

In terms of composition, a total of 4.53 million jobs were filled (52.6 per cent) focused on the services sector, followed by manufacturing (2.32 million; 27 per cent) and construction (1.23 million; 14.3 per cent), with the semi-skilled category recording 5.39 million jobs, followed by the skilled category (2.15 million jobs) and low-skilled (1.08 million jobs).

Despite the increase in the number of jobs, the vacancy rate also increased by 4.5 per cent to 192,600, mainly in the manufacturing sector which accounted for 55.9 per cent of the vacancies, followed by agriculture (16, 5 per cent) and services (15.3 per cent).

Mohd said that although economic growth is predicted to lose momentum this year because of a global recession, business activities in Malaysia continue to grow, creating more job opportunities, thereby strengthening the labour market.

He also said the labour market position is expected to remain stable and expand in the coming months, supported by the current development of economic activities in Malaysia.