Malaysia’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.0% in September 2025 with 518,600 unemployed persons, as labour market conditions continue to improve
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s unemployment rate declined to 3.0% in September 2025, with the number of unemployed persons falling to 518,600.
This represents a decrease from 520,000 unemployed persons recorded in August 2025.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said positive economic performance had strengthened Malaysia’s labour market conditions.
“The labour force expanded further, increasing by 0.2% to 17.54 million persons,” he said in a statement today.
The labour force participation rate remained unchanged at 70.9% for the month.
The number of employed persons increased by 0.2% to 17.03 million in September compared to 16.99 million in August.
Employees accounted for 74.9% of total employed persons, increasing slightly by 0.1% to 12.74 million.
The number of own-account workers grew by 0.4% to 3.24 million during the same period.
Actively unemployed persons made up 79.8% of total unemployed persons, declining by 0.3% to 413,600.
“Of these, 64.6% were unemployed for less than three months, while 4.9% were in long-term unemployment for over a year,” Mohd Uzir said.
For the third quarter of 2025, the labour force expanded by 0.7% to 17.49 million persons.
The labour force participation rate increased slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 70.9% from 70.8% in the previous quarter.
“The number of employed persons also rose by 0.7% to 16.97 million, while the number of unemployed declined by 0.2% to 519,900,” he added. – Bernama
