Malaysia's unemployment rate held at 3.0 per cent in July 2026 as the labour force reached 17.37 million
Employed persons rose to 16.85 million and unemployed persons to 520.3 thousand, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported on 11 September 2026. FinPrisme checks the release's unemployment comparator against the OpenDOSM monthly dataset.
Reporting sourcesDepartment of Statistics MalaysiaOpenDOSMCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
The Department of Statistics Malaysia released Labour Force Statistics, July 2026 on 11 September 2026. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.0 per cent in July 2026, unchanged from the previous month. The labour force rose by 0.1 per cent, or 21.0 thousand persons, to 17.37 million, up from 17.34 million in June 2026, and the labour force participation rate remained at 70.9 per cent.
Employed persons grew by 0.1 per cent, or 18.5 thousand, to 16.85 million, compared with 16.83 million in June 2026, and the employment-to-population ratio held at 68.8 per cent. Employees remained the largest group at 74.9 per cent of employed persons, edging up 0.1 per cent to 12.62 million from 12.61 million in June 2026. Own-account workers increased by 0.3 per cent to 3.16 million from 3.15 million in June 2026. The Services sector remained the primary driver of total employment, and employment also expanded across Agriculture, Mining & quarrying, Manufacturing and Construction.
The number of unemployed persons went up by 2.5 thousand, or 0.5 per cent, to 520.3 thousand in July 2026. The release text labels the comparison figure of 517.8 thousand unemployed persons as June 2025. The OpenDOSM lfs_month dataset records 517.8 thousand unemployed persons for June 2026, an unemployment rate of 3.0 per cent and a participation rate of 70.9 per cent. FinPrisme's reading is that the 517.8 thousand comparator belongs to June 2026, the previous month, rather than to June 2025, in line with the other comparisons in the release.
Persons outside the labour force rose by 0.01 per cent to 7.11 million, with housework/family responsibilities accounting for 43.3 per cent and schooling/training for 40.2 per cent. A slightly higher unemployed count alongside an unchanged 3.0 per cent rate fits a labour force that also grew in the month; the release does not attribute the change to a cause, and this update does not assign a cause. The Department of Statistics Malaysia release page lists 09 October 2026 as the upcoming release date.
Data source: Department of Statistics Malaysia.