KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — The labour force participation rate in Malaysia for the month of September this year increased 0.1 percentage point to 68.7 per cent as compared to the previous months, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

It also saw an increase of 0.2 percentage points as compared to Sept 2018 , which was 68.5 per cent.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia, in a statement, reported that the number of labour force in September this year rose 2.0 per cent against September 2018 to 15.75 million persons.

During the same period, the number of employed persons also increased 2.0 per cent to 15.23 million, it said.

The unemployment rate in the September remained at 3.3 per cent since May, while the number of unemployed in September was 521,400 persons, an increase of 0.2 per cent from the previous month.

According to the department, there are 7.16 million people who are of the working age, but are outside the workforce in September.

"A total of 31.3 per cent of the working age population (15 to 64 years) were outside the labour force which comprised housewives, students, retirees and those not interested to work,” it said. — Bernama