Overview

Labour Force

Malaysia’s labour force maintained its upward trajectory in 2024, registering a growth of 3.3 per cent, which corresponds to an increase of 536.6 thousand persons. Consequently, the total labour force expanded to 16.90 million persons, up from 16.37 million in 2023. Reflecting this positive trend, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) rose by 0.6 percentage points to a new high level of 70.6 per cent (2023: 70.0%).

Employed Person

In 2024, the number of employed persons expanded by 3.5 per cent (+556.0 thousand persons), maintaining its upward trend to reach 16.37 million persons as compared to 15.81 million persons in the previous year. As a result, the employment-to-population ratio, an indicates of the ability of an economy to create employment, increased by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year, from 67.7 per cent to 68.4 per cent.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate in 2024 continued its downward trend, decreasing by 0.2 percentage points to 3.2 per cent, compared to 3.4 per cent in 2023. This improvement also reflects a rate lower than the pre-pandemic level of 3.3 per cent recorded in 2019. As a result, the number of unemployed persons declined by 3.5 per cent to 534.1 thousand persons (2023: 553.4 thousand persons). 

Outside Labour Force

In contrast to the decline recorded in the previous year, the number of persons outside the labour force in 2024 slightly increased by 0.4 per cent, rising by 24.5 thousand persons to a total of 7.02 million (2023: 7.0 million). Females continued to dominate the outside labour force composition, representing 69.2 per cent of the total, while males accounted for the remaining 30.8 per cent. The number of females in this category increased by 1.0 per cent to 4.86 million, up from 4.81 million in 2023. On the contrary, the number of males in this category declined by 1.1 per cent, falling to 2.16 million from 2.19 million in the previous year.

Selected Indicators by State

All states showed an upward trend in LFPR over the year, indicating increased participation in the labour market. The highest LFPR was recorded in W.P. Putrajaya at 78.7 per cent, followed by Selangor (77.9%), W.P. Kuala Lumpur (75.4%), Pulau Pinang (72.0%), and Johor (71.6%).

In terms of unemployment rate, ten states registered a decline. W.P. Putrajaya posted the lowest unemployment rate at 1.1 per cent, followed by Melaka at 1.6 per cent, and both Pahang and Pulau Pinang at 2.0 per cent. In contrast, six states recorded unemployment rates exceeding the national level of 3.2 per cent, which are Sabah (7.6%), WP Labuan (6.5%), Perlis (4.1%), Kelantan (3.6%), Perak (3.6%) and Sarawak (3.4%).

The full publication of the Labour Force Survey, Malaysia 2024 can be downloaded through eStatistik Portal.

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA

30 JUNE 2025

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