KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Unemployment rate in the country was at 3.3 per cent in May from three per cent in April, indicating almost full employment, the Statistics Department said today,
The number of unemployed people increased by 8.9 per cent or 35,800 month in May while the number of employed people dwindled by 80,900 (0.6 per cent) in the previous month.
This situation led to an increase in the unemployment rate by 0.3 percentage point to 3.3 per cent in May as compared to May last year.
The unemployment rate also increased by 0.3 percentage point from 3.0 per cent, the department said.
Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point from 3.1 per cent in April to 3.4 per cent in May.
In May, the labour force participation rate recorded a 0.4 per cent decline to 66.0 per cent as compared to 66.4 per cent in the previous month.
The decline was due to the fall in the number of people in the labour market by 45,000 or 0.3 per cent and an increase of 110,000 people or 1.6 per cent outside the labour force.
As compared to May last year, the labour force participation rate increased by 1.0 percentage point, the department added. — Bernama
