Unemployment Rate

The yearly report for unemployment was

at 3.25% in 2010 and 3.05% in 2011. The
percentage fell by 0.01% at 3.04% by 2012. In
the year 2013 it has exponentially increased to
3.11% and decreased to 2.88% in the year 204.
By the year 2015, the unemployment rate was at
3.1%. Consequently, it rose to 3.44% in the year
2016, 3.41% in the year 2017, and 3.36% in the
year of 2018.

According the official site of the Department of Statistics Malaysia, (2019) the labor force
participation rate has increased to 2.2% as compared to the first quarter of the previous year to 15.53
million people. The employment rate of the first quarter was at 2.2% of the same quarter of 15.01 million
persons. From the last quarter of the previous year, both the employed and labor force population increase
by 0.5%. The labor force participation rate increased by 0.1% as compared to the last quarter of 2018 to
68.7%. Furthermore, the working age population that was outside the labor force was at 31.3%. The
unemployment rate in this quarter remained by 3.3% as compared to the last quarter of the previous year.
This percentage totals up to 516.6 thousand persons and has increase by 1.5% as compared to the same
quarter of the previous year.

On the second quarter, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that the Labor force
increased by 2.1% as compared to the same quarter from the previous year to 15.08 million persons. Both
labor force and the employed persons increased by 0.5% compared to the previous quarter. The labor
force participation rate increased by 0.1% in contrast of the first quarter of 2019 (68.8%). Consequently,
another 31.1% of the working age (15-64) were outside the labor force. The unemployment rate of 3.3%
has remained the same since the first quarter. The total number of unemployed was estimated at 520.6
thousand people and has increased by a percentage of 1.9% to the same quarter in 2018.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (2019) for the 3 rd quarter of the year 2019, the
labor force participation rate increased to 68.7%. It has increased by 0.1% since the previous month and
has increased by 0.2% compared to the same month in the previous year (68.5%). The number of the labor
force rose by 2% as compared to the 2018 results un the same month. The unemployment rate remained
3.3% since May 2019. This percentage accounted for 521.4 thousand persons which has increased by .2%
in the pervious month

The most recent data on the unemployment rate of Malaysia was on December 31, 2019, quarter
4. The unemployment rate was recorded at 3.2% or 510,000 people of the entire labor force population.
The statistics were drawn from a total of 19 million people. It was composed of a labor force aged 15 years
old to 64 years old.

Reports of the New Strait Times Malaysia (2019) said that the 510 thousand people were
unemployed for less than 6 months and are possibly looking for a job, has not found a job that suits their
skills, or waiting for a prospective employer. In addition, 10-20% of the entire unemployed population were
only unemployed for a span of less than six months.

The first quarterly data for the year 2020 will be released in the month of May. The Department head, Mohd
Uzir, also stated that the Department of Statistics was targeting 30% if the Malaysian Population and
Housing Consensus 2020 will be processing an online E-Consensus 2020 system. This system aims to
measure more accurate data in urban areas and their current development factors are measured.

Additionally, the unemployment rate of Malaysia is forecasted to be 3.425% in December

2024 as reported by the International Monetary Fund- World Economic Outlook. This is because
the rate has remained the same for quarterly periods of the current year. The data is updated
yearly in Consensus and Economic Information Center under the World Trend Plus’s Country
Forecast

Inflation Rate

According to the Global Economy website as

retrieved from the data available in the World Bank, the
yearly inflation of Malaysia was at 1.6% in 2010, 3.2%
in 2011, 1.7% in 2012, 2.1% in 2013, 3.1% in the year
2014. 2.1% in the year 2015 and 2016. It has
exponentially risen to 3.9% in the year 2017 and
drastically fell in 2018 with a rate of 0.9

According to the Trading Economics, the monthly

inflation rate of Malaysia has increased to 1.6% in January 2020 from 1% in December 2019 and matching
market estimated. The transport prices bounced back from -1.9% to 3.9%, and the cost rose faster for
miscellaneous from 2.4% to 2.5%, and recreation and culture at 0.9% from 0.6%. Simultaneously, the
inflation has remained the same for the current year at 1.7% and restaurant and hotels 1.1%. Meanwhile,
the prices went up for food and non-alcoholic beverage at 1.7 from 0.9% and furnishing and household
equipment and routine maintenance at 1.4% from 1.2%. The prices of clothing fell from -1% to -1.2%. Core
consumer prices which exclude highly perishable goods as well as administered prices of the goods and
services rose from 1.4% to 1.7% in the previous 2 months, which is the highest since 2019.

According to the World Bank Group, the inflation is forecasted to increase modestly in the year 2020. The
consumer price inflation is to average higher in the range of 1.5% to 2% this year as compare to the 0.7%
forecasted for 2019. Moreover, the drastic slowdown of major economies especially the expected decrease
of China could lead to a decline in export and growth prospects. This worldwide economic problem could
affect the economy of Malaysia.
Bibliography:

Department of Statistics Malaysia (2019). Principal statistics labor Force, Malaysia. Retrieved from
https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?
r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=149&bul_id=ekx5ZDVkVFAyWGg3WHNLUnJWL3RwUT09&menu_id
=U3VPMldoYUxzVzFaYmNkWXZteGduZz09

Statista (2019). Unemployment Rate of Malaysia, 1999-2019. Retrieved from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/319019/unemployment-rate-in-malaysia/

New Strait News Times (2019). Unemployment rate at 3.2 per cent as of Dec 31, 2019. Retrieved from
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/02/567799/unemployment-rate-32-cent-dec-31-2019

CEIC (2019). Malaysia Forecast: Unemployment Rate. Retrieved from

https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/malaysia/forecast-unemployment-rate

Trading Economics (2020). Malaysia Inflation Rate. Retrieved from

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MYS/malaysia/inflation-rate-cpi

Global Economy (2019).Malaysia: Inflation. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/malaysia/inflation/