Malaysia's unemployment rate could hit 6 percent or even higher this year, worse than during the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2008 Great Recession when unemployment rose to 3.2 percent and 3.7 percent respectively, said AmBank Group Research.

The recent labour market data according to the research house suggested the health of the job market is far more devastating after unemployment in April climbed to five percent, the highest since 1990 from 3.9 percent in March.