Unemployment rate soars to 5pct, exceeds annual average in last 30 years

Malaysia's monthly unemployment for April soared to five percent, exceeding the annual average in the last 30 years.

According to the Department of Statistics' Key Statistics of Labour Force for April published today, the number of people out of a job increased by 48.8 percent to 778,800 people compared to a year ago.

The country's chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement, attributed the spike to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The closure of operations for most of the businesses...