DOSM - Department of Statistics Malaysia
DOSM - Department of Statistics Malaysia
02/12/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/11/2026 22:25
Employment (Statistics)
Overview
Introduction
This publication presents the labour demand statistics derived from the Quarterly Employment Survey conducted among registered private sector businesses encompassing major economic activities namely, Agriculture, Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing, Construction and Services. The principal statistics of employment presented in this report are jobs, filled jobs, vacancies and jobs created by economic activity and skills category.
Labour Demand, Fourth Quarter of 2025
Analysing the overall labour demand in Q4 2025, all sectors contributing positively to the overall growth of jobs. The number of jobs was comprising of filled jobs and vacancies stood at 9.21 million jobs (Q4 2024: 9.05 million). The number of filled jobs was 9.02 million with a rate of 97.8 per cent, increased by 1.8 per cent on yearly basis (Q4 2024: 8.86 million). Simultaneously, the vacancy rate was 2.2 per cent with 198.1 thousand unfilled positions, rose from 193.6 thousand in Q4 2024. Along with the expansion of these indicators, jobs created also grew modestly by 2.2 per cent year-on-year, reaching 32.1 thousand jobs.
Labour Demand by Skills Category
The skilled category recorded 2.32 million jobs, reflecting an increase of 2.5 per cent on a yearly basis compared with 2.27 million jobs in Q4 2024. With a rate of 97.9 per cent, the number of filled jobs registered was 2.27 million whereas the remaining 2.1 per cent represents vacancy rate of 48.7 thousand vacancies for this category. The number of jobs created registered a decline of 4.4 per cent year-on-year, making up to 8.1 thousand jobs created (Q4 2024: 8.4 thousand).
Meanwhile, the semi-skilled category dominated the number of jobs with 5.73 million jobs, an increase of 1.3 per cent year-on-year. A total of 98.1 per cent corresponding to 5.62 million jobs was filled and the remaining 1.9 per cent (111.3 thousand) were vacant for this category. Additionally, jobs created in this category increased by 5.2 per cent, equating to 20.7 thousand new jobs (Q4 2024: 19.7 thousand).
For the low-skilled category, the number of jobs rose by 2.6 per cent, registering 1.16 million jobs for this quarter (Q4 2024: 1.13 million). The filled jobs rate was 96.7 per cent with 1.12 million jobs were filled. Furthermore, the vacancies rate was 3.3 per cent which corresponds to 38.2 thousand vacancies. The number of jobs created for this category was 3.4 thousand, with an increase of 0.9 per cent year-on-year (Q4 2024: 3.3 thousand).
Moreover, by skills category, the distribution of labour demand was dominated by the semi-skilled category as this category covered over half of all the indicators, followed by the skilled and low-skilled categories. Semi-skilled category represented for 62.2 per cent of total jobs, 62.3 per cent of filled jobs, 56.2 per cent of vacancies and 64.5 per cent of jobs created. The skilled category followed as the second-largest contributor with 25.2 per cent of total jobs, 25.3 per cent of filled jobs, 24.6 per cent of vacancies and 25.1 per cent of jobs created. The low-skilled category recorded the smallest percentage share, contributing to 12.6 per cent of jobs, 12.4 per cent of filled jobs, 19.2 per cent of vacancies and 10.4 per cent of jobs created.
Labour Demand by Economic Activity
Analysing the labour demand by economic activity, the Services sector led with the highest share of total jobs, representing 52.3 per cent (4.82 million), followed by Manufacturing at 27.5 per cent (2.54 million). The Construction sector contributed 13.9 per cent of jobs (1.28 million), while Agriculture accounted for 5.5 per cent (502.3 thousand) jobs. The Mining & Quarrying sector had the smallest share of 0.8 per cent (80.6 thousand).
Similarly, the Services sector continued to lead the filled jobs with 53.1 per cent (4.79 million) followed by the Manufacturing and Construction with 26.9 per cent (2.42 million) and 13.9 per cent (1.25 million) of filled jobs, respectively. The Agriculture sector amounted to 5.2 per cent share (470.3 thousand) while the Mining & Quarrying at 0.9 per cent with 80.0 thousand filled jobs.
The largest share of job vacancies was posted by the Manufacturing sector, which accounted for 115.8 thousand vacancies (58.4%) and remained substantial to the labour demand. The Agriculture sector recorded 16.2 per cent (32.0 thousand) vacancies, followed by Services (12.6%; 25.0 thousand) and Construction (12.5%; 24.8 thousand). Mining & Quarrying sector covered the remaining 0.3 per cent (0.6 thousand) of vacancies
Furthermore, Services sector again topped the list for jobs created for this quarter, encompassing 47.9 per cent (15.4 thousand) while the Manufacturing sector recorded 37.7 per cent (12.1 thousand), followed by Construction (9.6%; 3.1 thousand), Agriculture (4.2%; 1.4 thousand) and Mining & Quarrying (0.6%; 0.2 thousand)
The publication of the Employment Statistics, Fourth Quarter of 2025 can be downloaded through eStatistics portal.
Released by:
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA
12 February 2026
Infographic
Publications
Press Statement
Stats Alert
Subscribe
Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated
Submit
For interviews, press statement and clarification to the media, contact:
Baharudin Mohamad
Public Relation Officer
Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my
Phone: 03 8090 4681
Not found what you looking for? Request data from us, through
Go to eStatistik
Email: data[at]dosm.gov.my
Phone: 03 8885 7128 (data request)
DOSM - Department of Statistics Malaysia published this content on February 12, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on February 12, 2026 at 04:25 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]