The unemployment rate in Malaysia rose to 4.8 per cent last month with 768,700 people left jobless, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Uzir Mahidin said June 2021 saw a challenging labour force situation as Malaysia continued its battle to flatten the surge of Covid-19 cases.
“The rise of the new daily cases resulted in the implementation of a full Movement Control Order during the month, in which only essential economic, and services sectors were permitted to operate,” Uzir said in a statement today.
“Hence, the number of employed in June 2021 dropped by 0.5 per cent to 15.3 million individuals (May 2021: 15.37 million) as the employment-to-population ratio fell by 0.4 percentage points to 65 per cent.
“Subsequently, the unemployment rate climbed to 4.8 per cent (May 2021: 4.5 per cent) after four consecutive months of decreases. The number of unemployed went up by 40,600 (an increase of 5.6 per cent) to 768,700 (May 2021: 728,100),” he added.
The unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage points as compared to 4.9 per cent in June 2020, while the number of unemployed decreased by 4,600 (June 2020: 773,200).
The department also highlighted that following the implementation of the MCO throughout last month, the number of employed individuals who were asked to leave temporarily increased significantly by 661,400, to 801,100, compared to the month before (139,600). A similar situation was observed during the first implementation of the MCO last year, in which the number of employed who were put on furlough, surged.
“The country is still combating the rising number of new daily Covid-19 cases, and if the current health crisis persists, the economy and labour market will continue experiencing uneven recovery momentum.
“Therefore, herd immunity is essential towards loosening up the containment measures, thus allowing businesses to resume their operations. The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme is proceeding apace and may boost the confidence of households and businesses to stimulate economic activity.
“Moreover, various initiatives by the government are also being implemented to support business continuity. With these programmes, the economy and labour market activities may rebound; not factoring in the new and more lethal Covid-19 variants,” he added.
Malaysia recorded 17,236 new Covid-19 cases today, with 5,740 cases in Selangor, and 1,567 cases in Kuala Lumpur.
Here are Twentywo13’s news highlights.
SINGER SITI SARAH SUCCUMBS TO COVID-19
Fans of Siti Sarah Raisuddin woke up this morning to news of her passing, following her battle with Covid-19.
Siti Sarah, who was eight months pregnant, had been hospitalised since Aug 4 after experiencing severe coughing and a drop in oxygen levels caused by the coronavirus. On Aug 6, doctors performed a procedure to remove her baby boy from her womb to save his life.
Her situation did not improve, and she passed away around 5am today at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. She was 37.
Siti Sarah leaves behind husband Shahmira Muhamad and her other children – Uwais Alqarni (aged 10), Dzahira Talita Zahra (eight) and Ariq Matin (six).
COPS CRASH BIRTHDAY BASH, 11 ARRESTED
Police detained 11 individuals, including three Vietnamese women, after raiding a birthday party at a condominium in Jalan Lestari, Butterworth, last night.
Cops raided the unit, located on the 19th floor, after receiving complaints of loud noises.
When police arrived, the individuals had just cut a birthday cake and were partying to loud music. No drugs were found in the unit, but the urine tests on six of the individuals returned positive for methamphetamine. One of the Vietnamese women tested positive for ketamine.
The 11 were remanded to assist in investigations.
MACC PROBES CLAIMS OF BRIBES BY DAP REPS
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has met three DAP MPs following allegations that they had been offered bribes to support Perikatan Nasional.
The anti-graft body, however, did not identify the three MPs.
MACC said it had yet to identify the owners of the telephone numbers from which the messages were sent out in a bid to get the MPs to jump ship.
It had been widely reported that Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, Ipoh Utara MP Wong Kah Woh and Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong, had received such messages.
Kulasegaran’s private secretary had lodged a report regarding the alleged bribery attempt, and today, police sent the report to MACC.
EC RULES OUT MELOR BY-ELECTION
The Election Commission has ruled out a by-election for the Melor state constituency in Kelantan after incumbent Dr Md Yusnan Yusof died on April 30, due to heart complications. He was 53.
A state by-election must be held within 60 days after a seat is left vacant, but the commission said the state of Emergency that ended on Aug 1 did not provide the need for the polls to be held.
The commission also referred to the Kelantan State Constitution, which provided that if a seat was left vacant on a date two years before the dissolution of the state assembly, the seat did not need to be filled.
