A report stated that although headline unemployment is around 3.4per cent in 2017, the youth unemployment rate is over three times higher at around 10.8 per cent in 2017. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — The youth unemployment rate is three times higher than the headline employment rate in the country and a key reason to this is the slower hiring compared to the total number of job seekers.

Local daily The Star reported that although headline unemployment is around 3.4per cent in 2017, the youth unemployment rate is over three times higher at around 10.8 per cent in 2017.

AmBank Research head and chief economist Anthony Dass said that the slower pace of hiring is due to cautious business sentiments and a moderate economic performance that restrains businesses from expanding their workforce.

“Unemployment among young people is one of the contentious political issues as well as a burden for people living through it. If left unchecked, it will result in serious long-term negative effects,” Dass said in the report.

He said the country will have a generation of economically marginalised youth and this can lead to negative and far-reaching consequences on the economy and social landscape.

“They will be forced to contend with more self-reliant economic arrangements and even more job displacements, more so with the advent of the wider interconnectedness, alongside rapid technological advancement and the employment of foreign workers,” Das said.

Among Asean countries, the youth unemployment rate is lowest in Singapore at 4.6per cent, followed by Thailand (5.9per cent), Vietnam (7per cent), Philippines (7.9per cent) and Indonesia (15.6per cent). In China, it is at 10.8per cent while India’s youth unemployment is at 10.5per cent.