The unemployment rate among youths aged between 15 and 40 nationwide has dropped to 5.3 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to 5.9 percent in the same period last year, said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said the percentage showed that the number of unemployed persons in the first quarter of this year was 585,000, down from 627,000 people in the same period last year.