Labour Demand in the Third Quarter of 2022 saw the total number of jobs in the economic sector at 8.68 million, edged up 3.2 per cent over Q3 2021.
Correspondingly, there were 8.48 million filled jobs recorded in this quarter, with an additional of 252 thousand. Likewise, the number of job vacancies expanded by 2.2 per cent (+17 thousand) from Q3 2021 to 191 thousand. On the other hand, the number of jobs created continued to increase by registering a year-on-year growth of 103.0 per cent (+15 thousand) to record 30.5 thousand jobs created in this quarter (Q3 2021: 15.0 thousand), The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) cited in its reports titled Employment Statistics Third Quarter 2022 released on Wednesday.
Labour Demand by Skill
In terms of labour demand by skill category in Q3 2022, all skill categories posted an increase for both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter basis.
Skilled category comprised of 24.9 per cent of total jobs during this quarter or equivalent to 2.16 million jobs, edged up by 4.0 per cent (+82 thousand) as compared to Q3 2021 (2.08 million).
Similarly, the number of filled jobs in the skilled category grew at 3.7 per cent (+76 thousand) registering 2.11 million filled jobs. In addition, the number of skilled job vacancies also surged by 14.7 per cent to 48.2 thousand. The rate of filled jobs for skilled category was 97.8 per cent whilst vacancies rate was 2.2 per cent. Meanwhile, this category registered a total of 8.5 thousand jobs created.
Majority of jobs are in the semi-skilled category, comprising a share of 62.3 per cent (5.41 million) in Q3 2022. During this quarter, the number of semi-skilled jobs rose by 3.2 per cent (+168 thousand) as compared to Q3 2021 to 5.24 million jobs.
The number of filled jobs in the semi-skilled category increased by 3.1 per cent year-on-year to 5.30 million, with 98.0 per cent rate of filled jobs. This category also gained an additional of 11 thousand vacancies, hence resulting in 106.0 thousand vacancies in Q3 2022 with the vacancy rate of 2.0 per cent, said DOSM.
In the meantime, jobs in the low-skilled category encompassing a share of 12.8 per cent was accelerated by 1.8 per cent year-on-year to 1.11 million jobs in Q3 2022.
Low-skilled filled jobs posted a growth of 1.8 per cent to record 1.08 million jobs, with the rate of filled jobs at 96.7 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of low skilled job vacancies edged up by 1.3 per cent to 37.0 thousand, with a vacancy rate of 3.3 per cent.
Labour Demand by Economic Activity
Analysing the labour demand by economic activity, the largest composition of jobs and filled jobs were in the Services sector with a share of 51.9 per cent (4.50 million) and 52.7 per cent (4.47 million) respectively. Meanwhile, jobs in Manufacturing sector comprised of 27.6 per cent (2.39 million), whereas filled jobs accounted for 2.28 million or 26.9 per cent.
Manufacturing sector posted the largest share of job vacancies at 56.1 per cent (107 thousand), followed by Agriculture (16.1%; 31 thousand).
Meanwhile, Services sector encompassing 15.7 per cent (30 thousand) followed by Construction (11.9%; 23 thousand) and Mining & Quarrying (0.2%; 438). In terms of jobs created, 51.5 per cent or 16 thousand jobs created were concentrated in the Services sector, followed by Manufacturing with a share of 32.0 per cent (10 thousand) and Construction (11.5%; 3 thousand).
DOSM’s publication presents the labour demand statistics based on the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted on formal private sector establishments encompassing major economic activities namely Agriculture, Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing, Construction and Services. The principal statistics of employment presented in this report are jobs, filled jobs, vacancies and jobs created by economic activity and category of skill.
