The unemployment rate during the month remained at 3.4%, as recorded the previous month, chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said in a statement.

He said the labour market further strengthened in October, reflecting encouraging economic activities with a continuous increase in the number of employed people.

“Thus, the labour force’s numbers were on an upward trend in October, with an addition of 0.1% month-on-month to register 16.97 million people from 16.95 million in September.

“The labour force participation rate in October was unchanged at 70.1% as in the previous month,” he said.

Uzir also said the number of employed people in October remained on an upward trend, with a month-on-month increase of 0.2%, registering 16.40 million people over September’s 16.38 million.

Elaborating on the employment situation, he said employees comprised 75.3% of the total employed in October, registering a marginal rise of 0.1% to 12.35 million from 12.33 million in September.

“Likewise, the own-account workers category continued to increase with an addition of 0.4% to 2.99 million (September 2023: 2.97 million),” he said.

He said the economic sector saw a consistent increase in the number of employed people in the services sector, notably in wholesale and retail trade, food and beverage services, and transportation and storage activities.

The manufacturing, construction, mining and quarrying sectors, as well as the agriculture sector also posted rises in the number of employed people in October.

Uzir said the actively unemployed, or those available for work who were actively seeking jobs, represented 80.1% of the total unemployed people. This category decreased by 0.4% to record 457,200 people from 458,900 in September.