Malaysia

1.Series

Title:

Registered unemployment.

Starting year:

1969.

2.Agency making the initial registrations of unemployed persons

Name of the agency:

Jabatan Tenaga Rakyat (Manpower Department).

Type of agency:

Public service under a national authority.

Name of the national authority:

Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR).

Location of the local offices making the registrations:

In all parts of the country totalling 13 state offices and 36 district offices.

Type of services provided/administered by the agency:

Assisting job-seekers to find jobs;

Assisting employers to find workers;

Vocational guidance;

Job-related training;

Other: issuing licenses to the private sector employment agencies and monitoring their operation in compliance with the Private Employment Agencies Act, 1981.

Percentage of job-seekers seeking work through the agency:

20%.

3.The following information is registered about a person:

Name;

Sex;

Social security number (or similar identification number also used by other agencies);

Address of usual residence;

Date of birth;

Citizenship;

Nationality/ethnic group;

Educational/vocational attainment, with four categories distinguished. Links to ISCED have been established;

Current/past activity status, with three categories distinguished;

Type of work (occupation) of past or present job with seven groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (major groups level);

Type of work (occupation) of job sought, with seven groups distinguished. Links to ISCO-88 have been established (major groups level);

Name and address of present or previous employer or work place;

Type of business (industry) of present/previous employer/workplace, with 17 groups distinguished. Links to ISIC, rev.3 have been established (tabulation categories level).

4.Criteria used for inclusion of a person in the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Being without work (R) and (S);

Seeking work (R) and (S);

Age (lower limit: 15 years; upper limit: 64 years) (R) and (S);

Citizenship (R) and (S);

Being resident in the country (R) and (S).

5.Criteria used for exclusion of a person from the registers (R) and/or the statistics of unemployed persons (S):

Death (S);

Taking up residency abroad (S);

Commencement of a (new) job (R) and (S);

Commencement of military service (R) and (S);

Participation in an employment promotion scheme, public works programme, etc. (R) and (S);

Studying or undergoing training (R) and (S);

Failure to contact the agency/service (registration has to be renewed every 3 months) (R) and (S).

6.Definition of unemployed persons used for the statistics

This includes both actively and inactively unemployed persons. The actively unemployed includes all persons who did not work during the reference week but were available for work and actively looking for work during the reference week. Inactively unemployed persons include the following categories:

(i) persons who did not look for work because they believed no work was available or that they were not qualified;

(ii) persons who would have looked for work if they had not been temporarily ill or had it not been for bad weather;

(iii) persons who were waiting for answers to job applications;

(iv) persons who had looked for work prior to the reference week.

7.Updating of the registers

The registers are updated every week.

8.Unemployment rates

Statistics from the registers are not used to obtain unemployment rates.

9.Type of statistics of unemployed persons produced

Series 1:

Reference period:

Week.

Frequency of production:

Weekly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics;

Previous work experience;

Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);

Duration of unemployment.

Form of publication:

On paper, for limited audience.

Agency responsible for publication:

MOHR, Manpower Department.

Series 2:

Reference period:

Month.

Frequency of production:

Monthly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics;

Previous work experience;

Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);

Duration of unemployment.

Form of publication:

On paper, for general audience;

On a website (www.mohr.gov.my and www.jtr.gov.my).

Agency responsible for publication:

MOHR, Manpower Department.

Title of the publication:

Registration of Job Seekers, Job Vacancies and Placements.

Series 3:

Reference period:

Quarter.

Frequency of production:

Quarterly.

Descriptive variables used:

Sex;

Age;

Educational level;

Occupation;

Industry;

Geographic characteristics;

Previous work experience;

Citizenship (nationals/non nationals);

Duration of unemployment.

Form of publication:

On paper, for general audience;

On a website (www.mohr.gov.my and www.jtr.gov.my).

Agency responsible for publication:

MOHR, Manpower Department.

Title of the publication:

Labour Market Trends.

10.Methodological information about the statistics

Form of release:

Not released, available for internal use only.

Agency responsible:

MOHR, Manpower Department.

11.Comparisons with unemployment statistics from other sources

Comparisons have been made with unemployment statistics from the Population Census and the Economic Report.

Frequency of the comparisons:

Regularly when the statistics are published.

Publication of the methodology/results of the comparisons:

These have not been published.

12.Major changes since the start of the statistics

There have been no major changes in legislation, capacity of the agency and/or administrative procedures which had a significant influence on the statistics.