According to the Malaysian Labour Force data for February 2022, 671,000 people lost their jobs in the month, down 1.3% from 680,400 in January.
The unemployment rate also fell to 4.1% from 4.2% the previous month.
Employment rose 0.3% month-on-month in February to 15.73 million from 15.69 million in January, while the labor force rose 0.2% to 16.4 million in February compared with 16.37 million in the previous month.
As at March 25, the government disbursed a total of RM20.643 billion to 357,639 employers through the Wage Subsidy Scheme (PSU), thereby securing the jobs of 2.96 million local workers and reducing unemployment.
Government through the Wage Subsidy Scheme (PSU)
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul said that through PSU1.0, as many as 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees have benefited from the People Care Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) and the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA), as of the date mentioned above, Applications for wage subsidy totalling RM12.958 billion were approved.
He said RM1.407 billion in wage subsidy has been disbursed to 81,133 employers through PSU 2.0 over the same period to help maintain operations and preserve the jobs of 718,336 employees. PSU3.0 is also complemented by the Protect Malaysia Economy and People's Aid Package (PERMAI), Economy and People Enhancement Package (PEMERKASA) and Economy and People Enhancement Package Plus (PEMERKASA+).
During the same period, PSU4.0 distributed RM2,471 million in wage subsidy to 159,571 employers to maintain operations and to keep 1,878,549 workers in their jobs.
He noted that PSU 5.0 benefits 3,908 employers and 66,096 employees. In addition, Zafru said that the government will continue to strengthen training and enhance skills through various government departments and agencies this year, and allocate RM1.1 billion to create 220,000 job opportunities.
“The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources will be responsible for providing a ‘single window' to ensure that various government departments and agencies can effectively implement training courses and upgrade skills.
