The MCO, enforced on March 18 to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, saw many sectors and services closed before restraints were relaxed under a conditional version this week.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said about 610,500 were left jobless in March 2020, compared to 521,300 in the same period last year.

“The unemployment rate in March 2020 increased to 3.9%. This high unemployment rate was mainly attributed to the adverse impact of the MCO on the labour market,” he said in a statement.

Uzir said the highest unemployment rate in the country was recorded at 7.4%.

The unemployment rate in March also caused the increase in unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2020 to 3.5% from 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

“The unemployment rate was the highest recorded since the second quarter of 2017,” he added.

The number of those unemployed for the first quarter of 2020 increased 5.8% to 546,600 compared to the same quarter last year.

Graduates accounted for 29.3% of the total number of unemployed people.

“Youths aged between 15 and 30 recoded the highest unemployment rate (6.9%) followed by those aged between 31 and 45 (1.4%) and those aged between 46 and 64 (1.1%),” the department said.

It added that semi-skilled workers dominated the labour market (59%), followed by skilled workers (27.8%) and low-skilled workers (13.2%).

Meanwhile wholesale and retail sales recorded a negative growth of 5.7% in March 2020 against the same period last year.

The department said this was the lowest growth registered since February 2013.

It attributed the drop in sales to the -15.3% contraction in motor vehicle sales.

“Retail decreased to 6.6%, partly due to the decrease in the sale of automotive fuel and sale of non-essential products,” Uzir added.

This includes the sale of household goods as well as information and communication equipment, among others.

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