Page 235 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 4

CPS2214 Riyanti S. et al.

Female labour force participation rate in
Malaysia: Where are we?
Riyanti Saari, Nur Layali Mohd Ali Khan
Department of Statistics Malaysia

Abstract
Recognising the prominence impact of women in socioeconomic growth and
nation building, gender equality is included as a core element of the global
2030 agenda for sustainable development. Although the overall well-being of
women saw improvement in areas such as health and education, women is still
at a disadvantage in the world of work. Globally, the labour force participation
rate (LFPR) of female is 50 per cent. At the national level, female’s LFPR has
increased from 45.0 per cent in 1982 to 54.7 per cent in 2017. A World Bank
2012 study estimated that women’s greater participation could provide a
growth dividend of up to 0.4 per cent a year. Accordingly, enhancing the role
of women in development is one of the priority areas in the Eleventh Malaysia
Plan. In line with the global and national aspirations, policies and programmes
are reviewed and formulated to further elevate women’s involvement in
Malaysia’s workforce. These initiatives targeted to lift female’s LFPR to 56.4 per
cent by 2020. Therefore, this study will observe the trend and pattern of
women’s participation in the labour market from 1982 to 2017 based on the
Labour Force Survey data. It will elaborate on the labour force demographic
and socioeconomic characteristics of women. In addition, this paper will
include the comparison of women’s involvement in the labour market in
selected countries.

Keywords
Labour Force Survey; Labour supply; Labour market information; Female
labour force

1. Introduction
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs [UNDESA] (2019), there were 2.3 million females out of 4.6 billion
populations in 1982. The share of female sustained at 49.6 per cent as the
world population reached 7.7 billion in 2019. UNDESA (2019) projected that
as the world population grows to 8.5 billion in 2030, female will continue to
make up almost half of the population. This almost perfect balance entails
equity in terms of opportunity and access to education, health and economic
resources.

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