The number of employed persons continued to increase by 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 16.05 million persons in September 2022 (August 2022: 16.02 million persons). In the meantime, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of employed persons declined by 0.2 per cent.
In September 2022, the employment-to-population ratio which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, slightly increased by 0.1 percentage points to 67.2 per cent as against 67.1 per cent in August 2022. In terms of the economic sector, the Services sector continued to register an increasing number of employed persons, largely in Food & beverages services; Wholesale & retail trade and Transport and storage activities, as well as in the Manufacturing and Construction sectors. Meanwhile, the number of employed persons in the Agriculture Mining & quarrying sectors remained on a downward trend.
By status of employment, the employees’ category remained as the largest composition of the total employed persons
encompassing 75.9 per cent in September 2022, rose by 0.1 per cent or equivalent to 15.7 thousand persons registering
12.18 million persons. Similarly, the own-account workers posted an increase since February 2021, with an addition of 18.5 thousand persons to 2.82 million persons (August 2022: 2.80 million persons).
During the month, the number of unemployed persons continued its downward trend for fourteen consecutive months,
recording a negative growth of 1.1 per cent (-7.0 thousand persons) to 605.0 thousand persons (August 2022: 612.0
a thousand persons). Therefore, a lower unemployment rate was recorded in September at 3.6 per cent, which declined 0.1
percentage points as compared to 3.7 per cent in August 2022. In terms of seasonally adjusted data, the number of
unemployed persons increased by 0.5 per cent, registering an unemployment rate of 3.7 per cent.
The labour force remained stable in September 2022, with a 0.2 per cent increase month-on-month or 27.5 a thousand persons to record 16.66 million persons (August 2022: 16.63), while the labour force participation rate (LFPR) was unchanged at 69.7 per cent. In the seasonally adjusted estimate, the labour force decreased marginally by 0.04
per cent, whereas the LFPR stood at 69.7 per cent.
The number of persons in the outside labour force during the month continued to record a decline, with a reduction of 2.8
thousand persons (-0.04%) to 7.24 million persons (August 2022: 7.24 million persons). Housework/ family
responsibilities was the main reason of outside labour force, accounting for 42.9 per cent, followed by schooling/ training
category with 40.5 per cent.
