Local labour market grows as activities pick up
KUCHING: With the wider reopening and revival of tourism activities, alongside eventual approval of more vaccinated travel lanes with other countries, the labour market is anticipated to further improve.
As of November 9, 2021, only two states -- Kelantan and Sarawak -- have not progressed to Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
The team with MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) is retaining its unemployment rate forecast at 4.5 per cent this year taking into account the recent developments in the domestic job markets.
In a note, it said overall employment continued to trend upwards.
“With the further easing of the restrictions and improvements in domestic economic activities, we anticipate businesses will hire more employees in the upcoming months and the recovery in the labour market to strengthen going forward.
“Moreover, the downward trend in the daily Covid-19 cases along with the further progress in vaccination rate will boost sentiment among consumers and businesses to raise their spending activities and hiring plans,” it said.
In addition, the removal of the interstate travel ban and the recovery in consumer spending will also support the employment outlook for consumer-related industries, in particular, wholesale and retail trade; accommodation and F&B services, and tourism, among others.
The overall employment went up by 0.6 per cent month-onmonth (m-o-m) in September 2021, registering a new high of approximately 15.5 million individuals.
Additionally, the number of people who were recorded as employed but were temporarily idle fell by nearly half in September 2021, MIDF Research said.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped further to a pandemic low of 4.5 per cent in September 2021 (August 2021: 4.6 per cent).
The total unemployment rate was -2.6 per cent m-o-m in September 2021 from -3.8 per cent in August 2021 with the number of jobless people dropping to the lowest reading since May 2021.
In addition, the number of people outside the labour force sustained a downward trend as it fell further by -0.6 per cent m-o-m to record 7.41 million individuals, signalling many workers were encouraged to return to the workplace.