Malaysia’s labour productivity posted a positive growth of 0.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 with total hours worked increased 2.3 per cent to register 9.4 billion hours, as reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in its of Labour Productivity Statistics, Malaysia, Fourth Quarter of 2023 release today (Feb 22).
Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, “Malaysia’s economy moderated to 3.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to 3.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2023, while the total number of employments indicates a year-on-year growth of 2.5 per cent, registered 16.3 million persons (Q3 2023: 2.7%; 16.3 million persons) in the fourth quarter of 2023.”
Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin added, “With the propel of stable economic and labour market growth, labour productivity measured as value added per hour worked in the fourth quarter of 2023 has improved at 0.7 per cent, RM43.5 per hour (Q3 2023:-0.9%; RM42.2 per hour), while labour productivity as expressed by value added per employment maintained its positive growth, with a 0.5 per cent increase to RM25,080 per person (Q3 2023: 0.6%; RM24,470 per person).”
In terms of sectoral performance for labour productivity per hour worked, the Construction sector steered the overall performance by posting an increase of 2.6 per cent (Q3 2023: 5.2%), year-on-year, followed by the Mining and quarrying sector at 1.8 per cent (Q3 2023: -0.4%), Services sector at 1.5 per cent (Q3 2023: 0.1%), and Agriculture sector at 1.0 per cent (Q3 2023: -0.9%), while the Manufacturing sector showed a decline at negative 2.8 per cent (Q3 2023: -4.5%).
Labour productivity per hour worked grew across all the Services main subsectors, namely, Transportation and storage (10.5%); Real estate and business services (7.3%); Utilities (5.1%); Wholesale and retail trade (5.1%), Other services (3.4%); and Information and communication (3.1%); except for Finance and insurance (-13.2%); and Food & beverages and accommodation (-5.3%).
Meanwhile, five subsectors which showed increments in labour productivity per hour worked for the Manufacturing sector were Vegetable and animal oils & fats and food processing (2.9%); Non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (2.7%); Textiles, wearing apparel and leather products (1.5%); Transport equipment, other manufacturing and repair (1.2%); and Wood products, furniture, paper products and printing (0.1%); whereas the other three subsectors recorded negative growth, namely Electrical, electronic and optical products (-8.2%); Beverages and tobacco products (-3.4%); and Petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic product (-3.0%).
Looking at the sectoral performance for labour productivity measured as value added per employment, the Mining and quarrying sector, Construction sector, Services sector and Agriculture sector recorded positive year-on-year growth of 3.6 per cent (Q3 2023: -0.5%); 2.4 per cent (Q3 2023: 5.7%); 1.2 per cent (Q3 2023: 1.9%); and 1.1 per cent (Q3 2023: 0.3%), respectively.
Meanwhile, the Manufacturing sector posted a decline at negative 3.2 per cent (Q3 2023: -3.1%). Labour productivity per employment for the Services sector was attributed to positive growth of its five main subsectors, namely, Transportation and storage (9.5%); Real estate and business services (5.7%); Other services (4.1%); Utilities (2.6%); and Wholesale and retail trade (2.5%); while the other three subsectors deteriorated, namely, Finance and insurance (-6.3%); Food & beverages and accommodation (-4.0%); and Information and communication (-0.01%).
Four subsectors within the Manufacturing sector which demonstrated positive growth in labour productivity per employment were Non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (2.8%); Beverages and tobacco products (2.1%); Transport equipment, other manufacturing and repair (1.9%); and Vegetable and animal oils & fats and food processing (1.7%); whereas the other four subsectors recorded negative growth, namely, Electrical, electronic and optical products (-7.3%); Petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (-3.1%); Wood products, furniture, paper products and printing (-1.9%); and Textiles, wearing apparel and leather products (-1.3%).
On the overall performance of labour productivity for the year 2023, Dr. Mohd Uzir said, “The performance of labour productivity per hour worked for the year 2023 showed a positive growth of 0.2 per cent (2022: 1.8%) with a value of RM41.9 per hour (2022: RM41.8 per hour).
Likewise, labour productivity per employment demonstrated a positive momentum at 0.9 per cent (2022: 5.4%) to record value added per employment of RM96,692 per person (2022: RM95,858 per person).
Two sectors namely Construction and Services displayed stable positive momentum while the other sectors keep fluctuating.
“Building a strong workforce for the future is the key factor for the enhancement of labour productivity. Therefore, more cohesive efforts are needed to drive industrial productivity growth. Nevertheless, the outlook is subject to the challenging global context of increasingly competitive markets and uncertain global macroeconomic trends,” he added.
