KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 13): Private sector’s jobs decreased to 8.4 million in the second quarter (2Q) of 2020 from 8.6 million recorded in the first quarter, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The statistics published in the Employment Statistics, 2Q2020 report based on the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted on formal private sector establishments which included labour demand statistics, encompassing jobs, filled jobs, vacancies and jobs created by skill category and economic activity.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin (pictured) said during the quarter, the rate of filled jobs fell 0.1 percentage points as against the previous quarter to 98 per cent, translating the total filled jobs to 8.2 million, while job opportunities which were indicated by vacancies were 170,000.
“With most economic activities impeded in April and then gradual leeway throughout May and June, businesses were still subjected to strict standard operating procedures,” he said in a statement today.
He said interstate travel banned caused the mobility of the people to be restricted and further impacted business revenue.
“These subsequently caused fewer labour demand by industries, as reflected by the lower number of job vacancies compared to a year ago,” he said.
Meanwhile, the rate of vacancies decreased by 0.5 percentage points year-on-year to 2.0 per cent but grew marginally by 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, he said.
He said more than half of job vacancies were semi-skilled while the skilled encompassed 23.1 per cent.
By economic activities, 55.1 per cent of the job vacancies were in the manufacturing sector particularly in manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, rubber and plastics products, chemical and pharmaceutical products, as well as food products.
“As for services with a share of 17.3 per cent, most of the vacancies were in wholesale and retail trade, land transport, warehousing and support activities for transportation, food and beverages, and finance and insurance industries,” he said.
In addition, he said, it was observed that a significant number of job vacancies were in the agriculture sector, largely in crops and animal production including oil palm.
He said in spite of softer labour demand, there were still 12,000 jobs created in the quarter, although this amounted to about a half of the average quarterly jobs created last year.
Mohd Uzir said the country’s business community is primarily made up of medium and small enterprises and the stimulus packages introduced in stages since the beginning of Movement Control Order are beneficial to the businesses going into the recovery period.
“As the new normal sets in, these businesses begin to strategise to meet the changing needs of consumers, which in turn may gradually shift the requirement of employees’ skill-sets,” he said.
He added that on the supply side, jobseekers could leverage upon the current labour demand situation to re-examine and expand their skills and knowledge and subsequently increase agility, hence, raising employability in the labour market.
Source: https://www.edgeprop.my/content/1723309/private-sector-jobs-decrease-84m-2q