June’s unemployment rate held at 3.0%, with the number of unemployed individuals declining to 518,700, according to the labour force statistics for June and the second quarter (Q2) of 2025 released today.
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the labour market maintained its positive growth momentum in June, driven by the economy’s continued expansion.
“This was reflected in a steady rise in employment and a further decline in unemployment. The labour force continued its upward trend in June 2025, increasing by 0.3% month-on-month to 17.43 million persons (May 2025: 17.38 million persons).
“The labour force participation rate (LFPR) in June 2025 stood at 70.8%, consistent with the rate recorded in May,” he said in a statement.
On the overall performance for Q2 2025, Uzir said the labour force experienced a growth of 0.8% to 17.37 million persons compared to 17.23 million in Q1.
Meanwhile, the LFPR increased marginally by 0.1 percentage points to reach 70.8%, compared to 70.7% in the previous quarter.
“Reflecting this trend, the number of employed persons increased by 0.9% to 16.85 million persons (Q1 2025: 16.70 million persons). Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons showed a decline of 1.0% to 520.9 thousand persons (Q1 2025: 526.3 thousand persons).
“The unemployment rate for Q2 2025 dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 3.0% from the previous quarter,” he said.
Uzir said Malaysia’s labour market was expected to remain stable in the coming months, supported by rising domestic demand, higher productivity, more job opportunities, and broad-based investments, particularly in technology and strategic sectors.
“Although there are challenges such as talent migration, global trade tensions and inflation, government policies focusing on digitalisation, technical training and investment incentives are expected to sustain medium- to long-term growth,” he said.
