PUTRAJAYA, Dec 10 — According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia's (DOSM) October 2025 Labour Force Survey, Malaysia's unemployment rate held steady at 3.0 per cent in October 2025, with 518,900 people unemployed.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour market showed further improvement in October 2025, driven by robust economic activity, with solid employment growth and a low unemployment rate.
“Therefore, the labour force continued its upward momentum during the month, rising by 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 17.58 million persons (September 2025: 17.54 million persons). October’s labour force participation rate stood at 70.9 per cent, as recorded in September 2025,” he said in a statement today.
The total number of employed persons increased further in October 2025, rising 0.2 per cent to 17.06 million from 17.03 million the previous month.
On the same note, the number of unemployed rose marginally by 0.1 per cent to 518,900 persons (September 2025: 518,600 persons).
The employees’ category accounted for 74.8 per cent of the total employed population in October 2025. This group increased slightly by 0.1 per cent to 12.76 million persons, up from 12.74 million in September 2025.
Likewise, the number of own-account workers rose by 0.4 per cent to 3.25 million, up from 3.24 million in September 2025.
Uzir said the number of persons working fewer than 30 hours per week continued to decline, dropping by 1.4 per cent to 233,200 in October 2025 (September 2025: 236,500).
“Correspondingly, the number of persons working less than 30 hours per week but willing and available to work additional hours or classified as time-related underemployment also declined by 1.7 per cent to 126,400 persons, recording the time-related underemployment rate of 0.7 per cent (September 2025: 128,600 persons,” he said.
Uzir concluded that the outlook for Malaysia's labour market in the coming months remains positive and resilient, supported by moderate economic growth, strategic investments, and human capital development.
