Higher jobless rate in June due to tighter Covid-19 curbs KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded an increase in the unemployment rate in June this year due to theimpact of the tighter restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said year-on-year, the unemployment rate edged downby 0.1 percentage point as compared to 4.9% in June 2020. Commenting on the June labour data, Mohd Uzir said it was a challenging labour force situation as the country continued to take steps to flatten the surge of Covid-19 cases. The rise in new daily cases has resulted in the implementation of Full Movement Control Order (MCO) during the month whereby only essential economy and services sectors were permitted to operate. "Following the implementation of the Full MCO throughout the month, the number of employed persons who were temporarily not working increased significantly by 661.4 thousand persons to record 801.1 thousand persons as against to May 2021 (139.6 thousand persons). Mohd Uzir said the National Covid-19 Vaccination Programme is speeding up the pace hence it may boost the households and businesses confidence to stimulate economic activity. "Moreover, various initiatives are also implemented to support business continuity through Pakej Pelindungan Rakyat dan Pemulihan Ekonomi (Pemulin or National People's Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package). "With these programmes, the economy and labour market activities may rebound, not considering the new and more lethal Covid-19 variants," he said. Since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in March last year, the government has launched eight stimuluspackages worth RM530bil to address the crisis. Adapted from: The Star, 9 Aug. 2021 Answer all questions. 1. Define unemployment and unemployment rate. (4 marks) 2. Determine the type of unemployment and state the reason why unemployment rate in Malaysia increased in June. (2 marks) 3. Explain the government initiatives that have implemented in order to support economic activities since March last year during the pandemic. (4 marks) 4 . Explain how fiscal policy can be used to reduce unemployment. (5 marks) END OF QUESTION PAPER 8/11