MALAYSIA’S labour market has continued to demonstrate resilience despite ongoing economic shifts, rapid technological advancement and changing work practices worldwide. While many economies face rising job uncertainty, Malaysia’s employment ecosystem remains relatively stable, with encouraging outcomes for fresh graduates and first-time job seekers.
Recent labour market indicators suggest that job creation and workforce absorption are keeping pace with structural changes in the economy. According to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the recent statistics of the national unemployment rate has declined to 2.9 per cent in November 2025, the lowest level in the past 11 years, shows that the country’s labour market performance continues to record very encouraging progress and is on a stable path of recovery and growth. The reduction
in the unemployment rate is supported by an increase in total employment, which reached 17.09 million persons, while the employment-to-population ratio rose to 68.8 per cent. This indicates that more Malaysians have successfully entered the labour market.
Beyond the numbers, the nature of this growth reflects a significant structural shift. Employment is increasingly driven by skilled and semi-skilled roles, moving the nation toward higher-value work. For young Malaysians entering the market, this is a crucial development; it indicates that the economy is not only providing more jobs but, more importantly, improving the quality of those jobs.
Sustaining this momentum remains a top priority will remain a key priority for the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) in further strengthening comprehensive and focused human capital development policies.
Under the MADANI Economy framework, KESUMA continues to implement various strategic initiatives to ensure that economic growth is translated into better job opportunities, dignified and reasonable wages, and comprehensive worker protection.
These include:
Strengthening the skills ecosystem and workforce employability through reskilling and upskilling programmes;
Implementation of the Progressive Wage Policy and the quality jobs agenda to enhance workers’ income and productivity; and
Strengthening social protection for workers, including improvements to labour laws and more effective enforcement.
To operationalize these strategic goals, KESUMA leverages MYFutureJobs as the national employment platform developed by the Social Security Organization (PERKESO). Powered by real-time labour market data, MYFutureJobs plays a key role in connecting jobseekers with suitable employment opportunities while helping employers identify candidates who meet operational needs. Beyond job listings, the platform has evolved into a vital labour market intelligence tool that supports smoother job transitions and better-informed career decisions.
Data from MYFutureJobs demonstrates a sustained and strong orientation towards skilled employment in Malaysia. In 2024, 90.1 per cent of job placements were concentrated in high- and semi-skilled roles, with only 9.9 per cent in low-skilled occupations, underscoring the dominance of skills-based employment. In 2025, although the share of high- and semi-skilled placements moderated slightly to 86.7 per cent, these roles continued to constitute the vast majority of placements, while low-
skilled jobs increased marginally to 13.3 per cent.
The year-on-year increase in skilled job placements underscores Malaysia’s structural transition towards a more knowledge- and competency-driven workforce, aligned with industry demand for higher productivity, digital capabilities, and specialised skills. This progression also highlights the effectiveness of MYFutureJobs in facilitating job matching that supports workforce upskilling, economic resilience and sustainable growth.
This trend challenges the perception that graduates struggle primarily due to a lack of opportunities. While job mismatches remain, they are largely driven by salary alignment and geographic preferences, rather than a shortage of jobs. Encouragingly, graduate employment outcomes have continued to improve year-on-year, pointing to a labour market that is steadily strengthening.
Parallel to these developments, the growth in entry-level opportunities highlights the foundational strength of the Malaysian labour market. This is evidenced by the consistent demand for junior talent within the services, manufacturing, logistics, hospitality and community services sectors.
Statistically, a total of 304,026 entry-level vacancies were recorded on MYFutureJobs across these sectors, with service and operations roles accounting for approximately 72.9% of total opportunities. This highlights the critical role of service-oriented and operational sectors in absorbing new labour market entrants, particularly school leavers, graduates and young jobseekers.
However, the graduate labour market has become more complex. Digitalisation, post-pandemic restructuring and evolving workplace practices have reshaped employer expectations. As a result, successful employment outcomes increasingly depend on better alignment between graduate expectations and employer requirements.
Hence, PERKESO plays a critical role as a labour market facilitator. Through MYFutureJobs, it provides a transparent, data-driven job-matching ecosystem that supports informed decision-making by both jobseekers and employers.
Graduates can access clearer information on job requirements, wage structures, work arrangements and sectoral conditions. Employers, meanwhile, are better able to identify candidates whose skills and expectations align with operational realities.
MYFutureJobs data shows that a large proportion of entry-level positions still require full physical on-site presence, while hybrid and remote work arrangements remain limited and are mainly concentrated in technology and professional services. By making such information visible upfront, MYFutureJobs helps reduce expectation gaps and supports more sustainable employment matches. In today’s labour market, transparency is essential to effective job matching.
Labour market intelligence also guides PERKESO’s targeted re-employment and reskilling efforts. In 2025, nearly 90% of recorded job losses were concentrated in the Services and Manufacturing sectors. In response, employment support and reskilling initiatives were prioritised in these areas.
In 2025, the Employment Insurance System (EIS) registered a total of 74,841 Loss of Employment (LOE) applications from displaced workers. Majority of them were from the manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade sectors.
Notably, most displaced workers remained within the same sectors as their previous employment, reflecting strong skills transferability and effective job matching. The manufacturing sector recorded the highest job retention rate around 43%, followed by the construction sector and wholesale and retail trade.
Nevertheless, EIS has played a key role in supporting displaced workers’ return to employment, with around 70% of approved LOE recipients successfully re-employed between 2020 and 2025, reflecting effective job matching and re-employment support by PERKESO.
Wage data further shows that higher salaries are typically associated with high-skill occupations, including leadership, engineering, technology and specialised professional roles. Comparatively, sectoral trends indicate that industries such as mining and quarrying, utilities and information and communication offer higher average wages, reinforcing the need to support workforce mobility into high-value sectors.
Looking ahead, MYFutureJobs insights point to growing demand in sunrise sectors aligned with Malaysia’s future economic priorities. Strong employment growth is expected in digital services, e-commerce logistics, green technology, healthcare support and advanced manufacturing.
Occupations such as renewable energy specialists, data analysts and data scientists, construction and engineering professionals, healthcare support specialists, as well as ICT, automation and electronics professionals are projected to see sustained demand.
Hence, aligning employment services and training initiatives with these trends is essential to ensuring long-term workforce relevance.
This relevance is increasingly defined by a rising demand for technical and vocational skills, reflecting a structural shift in workforce needs. According to MYFutureJobs data, roles requiring these specific competencies now constitute a significant share of entry-level vacancies.
PERKESO supports these pathways through initiatives such as Place and Train, which emphasise employer-led training and targeted job placement. These programmes help graduates and TVET-trained jobseekers gain industry-relevant experience while improving early-career employment stability.
Complementing this, the Career Launching Pad Programme provides early intervention for students and fresh graduates by strengthening workplace readiness and career awareness.
Direct employer engagement remains a core pillar of the MYFutureJobs ecosystem. Career carnivals, targeted interview programmes and employer-driven hiring initiatives connect jobseekers directly with employers, offering real exposure to hiring expectations and wage benchmarks.
At the same time, social protection mechanisms such as the Employment Insurance System (EIS) provide crucial support for workers during job transitions. These measures help maintain workforce confidence and encourage job mobility, knowing that support is available when needed.
Bridging the gap between graduate expectations and labour market realities is central to Malaysia’s long-term economic development. The country has strong foundations in place, including robust labour market institutions, evidence-based employment services, industry-aligned training and comprehensive social protection.
Therefore, MYFutureJobs is not only addressing immediate labour market challenges but also strengthening Malaysia’s workforce readiness to support sustainable economic growth in the years ahead. – January 13, 2026
Datuk Seri Ramanan Ramakrishnan is the Minister of Human Resources