OVER half a million people in the country are currently jobless.
The number represented a 3.5% unemployment rate in the country, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot yesterday.
He also told the Dewan Rakyat that over 200,000 graduates were currently unemployed.
“Of that, 103,224 are those who have not been able to find employment, while 100,390 were those who have quit their jobs because they were unhappy with the pay or found their work unsuitable.
Replying to issues raised during the debate on the royal address, Riot said 14.8 million Malaysians are gainfully employed.
On the unemployment statistics, he said, the number was considered low compared to many other countries.
“If we take the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s benchmark, any nation that has less than 4% unemployment rate is deemed to have full employment,” he said, adding that the United States has an unemployment rate of 6.1%,” he said
