Informal jobs with ‘own account workers’, including daily earners, smallholders, and gig workers, rose to 2.99 million in November 2023, says Maybank IB. (File pic)
PETALING JAYA: Maybank Investment Bank (IB) has forecasted a steady unemployment rate of 3.4% in 2024.
In its research note, it said the unemployment rate eased to 3.3% in November 2023 (October 2023: 3.4%), the level just before the COVID-19 outbreak, as employment growth continued to top labour force growth.
In November 2023, Maybank IB said employment growth recorded 2% year-on-year (y-o-y), while in October 2023 it was 2% y-o-y.
It said job increases were registered across all sectors, and informal jobs again hit a fresh record high.
“Given the 11 months of 2023, the jobless rate stood at 3.4%. The likely outcome for a full-year 2023 unemployment rate is 3.4% versus our estimate of 3.5%.
“Therefore, we expect the rate to be stable at 3.4% in 2024,” said Maybank IB.
The statistics department reported that the job growth in November 2023 continued to expand in the services sector.
This includes sectors such as information and communication, food and beverage, transportation and storage activities, as well as the manufacturing, construction, and mining and quarrying sectors although employment in the agriculture sector declined.
Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate eased to 10.6% in November 2023 (October: 10.7%) although it is still above the pre-pandemic low of 9.9% in December 2019.
Informal jobs that are “own account workers”, such as those earning daily income, smallholders, and gig workers, have been rising since January 2021 to 2.39 million and reached a new peak of 2.99 million in November 2023 (October 2023: 2.985 million).
This was due to the growth in informal jobs outpacing total employment growth, from 6.6% to 2.4% for the 11 months of 2023, said Maybank IB.
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