PUTRAJAYA, Oct 9 — Malaysia’s unemployment rate declined to 2.9 per cent in August 2026 from 3.0 per cent in July, with the number of unemployed persons falling by 8,700 to 511,600, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

In its Labour Force Statistics for August 2026 released today, DOSM said the number of employed persons increased by 0.2 per cent to 16.87 million from 16.85 million in the preceding month.

The labour force expanded by 0.1 per cent to 17.39 million from 17.37 million, while the labour force participation rate edged up to 71.0 per cent from 70.9 per cent.

DOSM said the employee category, which accounted for 74.9 per cent of total employed persons, recorded a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent to 12.63 million in August from 12.62 million in July.