KUALA LUMPUR: Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (Kenanga IB) has maintained its average unemployment rate forecast for 2023 at 3.5 per cent, underpinned by sustained employment growth and higher active vacancies.
In a note today, Kenanga IB said that as of May 19, 2023, vacancies in MyFutureJobs stood at 113,120 compared to April 2023’s 20,853.
“We believe the resilient domestic demand would partially mitigate the weakness in the external sector amid the impact of the global growth slowdown.
“We believe a continued recovery in the services sector amid a gradual rise in tourism activity to support its growth outlook,” it said.
Kenanga IB said that the number of unemployed persons in April 2023 decreased by 0.3 per cent to 586,900 persons compared to 588,700 last month, with the unemployment rate standing at 3.5 per cent, unchanged from March 2023.
“The number of the labour force recorded an addition of 0.2 per cent to register 16.84 million persons compared to 16.81 million in March,” it said.
Meanwhile, Kenanga IB said the labour force participation rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 70.0 per cent (March 2023: 69.9 per cent), indicating more labour participation in the market.
It said that on a month-on-month comparison, the number of employed persons in April 2023 inched up 0.2 per cent to record 16.25 million persons, a record high.
“With that said, we maintain the 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 4.7 per cent, given the steady labour market conditions that will continue to support growth in domestic demand,” said Kenanga IB. – BERNAMA
