April 2011 Employment Report

April’s employment report shows continued net job creation in the Malaysian economy, even if the pace has slowed:

About 78,000 jobs were added during the month, though the unemployment rate remained unchanged as the labour force also grew, by about 0.6% over March:

While the level of employment is good news for citizens, I’d consider this as one more factor that could prompt BNM to continue raising interest rates. The unemployment level’s on the lower band of the historical average, suggesting the economy’s output gap is probably fully closed, if not negative. That raises the prospect of future demand-led inflation, which is what central banks are anxious  to avoid.

Technical Notes:

April 2011 Employment Report from the Department of Statistics (warning: pdf link)