By Sharina Ahmad
SOFTER labour demand was registered in the first quarter of 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak hurt many businesses.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), a total of 166,000 job vacancies were recorded in the private sector in the first quarter of 2020, decreasing by 35,000 from a year ago.
The unprecedented event put workers at risk of pay cuts while job seekers are expected to face the most challenging times in securing employment as labour demand has shrunk.
It is foreseen that Malaysia’s labour market will soften further in the second quarter due to the impact of the extended phases of the movement control order (MCO) until May 3, followed by Conditional MCO until June 9.
“The rate of vacancies for this quarter fell to 2%-1.9% after registering 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019,” chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said.
“The decline in job vacancies was due to the cautionary steps taken by the industry amid slower economic performance in the country. Job vacancies were predominantly in the semi-skilled category with 52.3% while the skilled category represented 25.7%,” he said at a presentation on the employment statistics for 1Q20 on May 14.
Recently, DoSM released unemployment statistics for March where unemployed numbers increased by 17.1% to 610,500, at a rate of 3.9%. The status of labour demand and supply for the quarter gave an early signal of disequilibrium in the labour market.
For the first time, the rate of filled jobs reached 98.1% after consistently recording between 97.1% and 97.7%, translating into 8.4 million jobs in the quarter. Nonetheless, the increase of 51,000 filled jobs in 1Q was lower compared to the annual increases of the previous quarters in 2019 which ranged from 83,000 to 128,000.
Filled jobs in both skilled and semi-skilled categories recorded slight increases while for low-skilled categories they declined. Looking at the breakdown of filled jobs by skill category, 24.3% were in the skilled category of managers, professionals and technicians and associate professionals.
Meanwhile, filled jobs in the semi-skilled category accounted for 62.6% comprising clerical support workers, service and sales workers, skilled agricultural workers, craft and related trade workers and plant and machine operators and assemblers. Elementary workers made up 13.1% in the low-skilled category.
Overall, the number of jobs in the private sector – which comprised filled jobs and job vacancies – went up by 18,000 to 8.6 million in the first quarter of 2020. Following the slower growth of filled jobs and decrease in job vacancies, the number of the jobs during this quarter grew marginally compared with all four quarters in 2019.
Despite the slower economic momentum in 1Q20, 19,000 jobs were created. However, this was a decrease of 4,000 from 23,000 in the same quarter of the previous year.
The new jobs were created mostly in the first two months of 2020. In terms of skilled category, 48.3% was skilled jobs while another 45.7% were in the semi-skilled category.
Meanwhile, DoSM said, the global economic slowdown will add pressure on the domestic labour market, particularly in the international trade and tourism-related industries.
In this regard, it said the quick adjustment to the labour market disequilibrium is essential to increase the demand for jobs and consequently reduce unemployment.
“The economic stimulus measures implemented by the government are opportune to ease the burdens and facilitate the swift recovery of businesses. Subsequently, it is hoped that this will have a beneficial impact on Malaysia’s labour market as industries create more job opportunities that are appropriate for this new normal era,” it added. – May 14, 2020
