Office workers out for lunch in KLCC area. 5 Jun 2020 Picture by Choo Choy May.

Malaysia recorded labour productivity growth of 2.1% to RM93,973 in 2019 from RM92,018 in 2018, contributing to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.3% in 2019. The Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) said that in terms of labour productivity by value-added per hour, growth was 2.2% in 2019 compared with 3.4% in 2018.

MPC’s National Productivity Report 2020 stated that the five main sectors generally improved labour productivity through 2019, with the construction sector’s labour productivity by value per employment growing 3.3% to RM45,293, followed by the services sector (2.9% to RM89,513) and the manufacturing sector (1.7% to RM123,896). Agriculture’s labour productivity by value-added per employment posted growth of 0.4% to RM54,212, while the mining and quarrying sector recorded a slight decline at 1.6% to RM1.34 million.

MPC said Malaysia’s labour force increased by 2.0% to 15.6 million persons in 2019 from 15.3 million in 2018, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.3%. In 1Q20, the unemployment rate increased to 3.5% reflecting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as the government enforced the movement control order (MCO) and shutdown of businesses to contain the outbreak.

Internationally, Malaysia recorded a productivity level of US$68,473, ahead of Asian countries including Thailand (US$35,556), Indonesia (US$28,694), China (US$35,604) and Vietnam (US$13,768). However, amongst developed countries, Singapore continues to hold the highest labour productivity per person employed at US$153,124 with the United States coming in second at US$131,783.

In a related development, the MPC said the time is now ripe to embrace digitalisation. Its director-general Datuk Abdul Latif Abu Seman said through digitalisation, Malaysia will be able to boost economic growth and ensure the people’s well-being, adding that the country needs highly-skilled and well-trained human capital that are motivated towards higher-value and knowledge-based activities. “MPC has adopted several online platforms to assist businesses in mitigating the Movement Control Order’s (MCO) impact as well as to support productivity of industries and business growth. “The Unified Public Consultation (UPC) portal is one of the online platforms that MPC initiated to obtain public feedback on amendments to existing regulations and the drafting of new regulations,” he said in a speech during the MPC Productivity Report 2020’s virtual launch today. Abdul Latif said more than 10,000 users have registered on the UPC portal to provide their feedback and recommendations, and the MPC had also held more than 100 webinars which saw over 30,000 participants as of May 2020. He added that at the same time, more than 200 companies had applied for MPC’s Business Virtual Advisory Clinics, which recorded a satisfaction level of 93%.

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