Number of posts in private sector increased 121,000 to 8.7 million in third quarter of 2019

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 22 -- The number of posts in the private sector increased by 121,000 in the third quarter of 2019 to 8.7 million compared to the same period last year with 8.5 million, said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

In the third quarter this year, the rate of posts which were filled was 97.7 per cent, recording 8.4 million compared to 8.3 million in the third quarter of 2018, he said.

“Meanwhile, the rate of vacancies was 2.3 per cent with 203,000 vacant posts during the same period compared to the third quarter of 2018 with 195,000," he said in a statement today on the statistics of energy use during the third quarter of 2019.

Mohd Uzir said the third quarter of this year saw 28,000 posts created in the private sector compared to 22,000 during the same period last year.

He added that the number of posts in the semi-skills category increased by 83,000 to 5.4 million in the third quarter of 2019, with 98.0 per cent of the posts filled.

Mohd Uzir also said posts in the skilled category increased by 42,000 to 2.1 million, showing a 24.5 per cent overall increase.

“The rate of posts filled was 97.5 per cent while the rate of vacancies was 2.5 per cent. A total of 10,000 posts were created in the skilled category, showing 36.9 per cent increase," he said.

In the low-skill category, there was a drop of 3,000 posts, falling to 1.1 million posts, with 96.3 per cent of posts being filled.

Mohd Uzir also pointed out that 51.7 per cent of posts were in the service sector, followed by 26.4 per cent in the manufacturing sector, 15.2 per cent in construction, 5.7 per cent in agriculture, and one per cent in mining and quarrying.

The vacancy of posts was mostly in the manufacturing sector, with 55.7 per cent, while in the service sector, it was 20.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said, 48.1 per cent of the jobs created during the third quarter of 2019 was in the service sector, followed by manufacturing sector (21.2 per cent) and construction sector (18.6 per cent).

--BERNAMA