KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in December from 4.3 percent in the previous month, official data showed Tuesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that Malaysia's employed persons in December remained upward with a marginal increase of 0.2 percent month-on-month to 15.65 million persons.
It said that the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment in the country, recorded a slight increase to 66.1 percent in the month from 66 percent in November, 2021.
In the meantime, it said the number of unemployed persons in Malaysia continued to decrease by 1 percent month on month to 687,600 persons in December, 2021.
"In Malaysia, the aftermath of the pandemic caused the economic revival to be somewhat hindered and it also affected the regaining of the entire labor market as its recovery is directly proportional to the performance of the economy," said the DOSM.
However, it said the reopening of economy and schooling sessions are anticipated to result in more positive impact on other related activities.
"More travelling activities domestically and abroad were also observed during the month. These positive progresses signaled that the labor market is foreseen to continue improving in the upcoming months, but not considering the challenges of the new and more lethal variants," it said. ■
