KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s unemployment rate this year is expected to be around 4.3%, an increase from the 3.3% figure last year, according to MIDF Research.
The research house said softer export growth in recent months is likely to affect the employment outlook for the trade sector.
In a note, the research house said the rising number of Covid-19 infections in major export markets such as Britain, Europe and the US could possibly hurt trade outlook and therefore hiring plans especially in the current quarter.
Recovery in the labour market would take time to return to pre-pandemic levels.
“With the continued economic recovery, we have seen reopening of business activities and increasing labour demand that had led to the reduction in the unemployment rate from the high in May.
“However, the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases and the extension of targeted movement control order until early December 2020 point towards a slower recovery in the labour market as we expect labour demand for the services sector, particularly hotel and restaurants, will once again weaken,” it said.
The Statistics Department announced today that the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.7% in October compared with the recent peak of 5.3% in May as businesses have gradually reopened following the easing of MCO restrictions.
The current level of unemployment rate remained elevated as firms were yet to run at full capacity.