Kuala Lumpur, Jul 30 (IANS): Malaysia's unemployment rate in 2023 continued its downward trend, lessened by 0.5 percentage points to 3.4 per cent from 3.9 per cent in the previous year, official data showed Tuesday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the unemployment rate last year was almost returning to the pre-pandemic level of 3.3 per cent in 2019.

According to the DOSM, the number of unemployed persons decreased by 9.9 per cent year-on-year to 553,400 persons last year.

In 2023, the number of employed persons continued its positive growth, increasing by 4.3 per cent year-on-year to 15.81 million persons, Xinhua news agency reported.

Consequently, the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, rose by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to 67.7 per cent.

In 2023, the number of Malaysia's labour force remained on its upward trajectory, posting a growth of 3.8 per cent. This brought the total labor force to 16.37 million persons compared to the previous year. Therefore, a higher labour force participation rate was recorded in 2023, increasing by 0.7 percentage points to a new highest level at 70 per cent.