In terms of skill level, semi-skilled workers represent the majority of employed persons in 2022

(58.4%), followed by skilled workers (29.6%) and low-skilled workers (12.0%). Year-on-year,
the number of semi-skilled workers in employment increased by 3.4 per cent to record
8.99 million persons. Similarly, the number of employed persons in the skilled categories edged
up by 2.4 per cent registering 4.56 million persons but for low skilled categories, it fell by
3.7 per cent to mark 1.84 million persons in 2022 [Chart 4].

Chart 4: Employed persons by skill level, Malaysia, 2021 and 2022

(‘000)
1,915.2 1,844.4
(12.7%) (12.0%)
4,560.5
4,455.0 (29.6%)
(29.6%)

8,693.9 8,986.8
(57.7%) (58.4%)

2021 2022

Skilled Semi-skilled Low-skilled

Working less than 30 hours per week, time related underemployment and skill-related
underemployment

Employed person working less than 30 hours per week refers to those who worked less than
30 hours during the reference week because of the nature of their work or due to insufficient work.
In 2022, Phase 4 of the NRP was implemented in every state, leads to improvement of economic
performance. Thus, the number of employed persons working less than 30 hours a week is on a
downward trend, falling by 18.1 per cent year-on-year (-75.6 thousand persons) to
341.8 thousand persons (2021: 417.4 thousand persons). The population working less than
30 hours a week comprises 2.2 per cent of the total employed persons, downed by
0.6 percentage points as compared to the preceding year (2021: 2.8%) [Chart 5].

LAPORAN SURVEI TENAGA BURUH | 2022 34

LABOUR FORCE SURVEY REPORT | 2022 34