Strategic cooperation with various government ministries and agencies has reduced the country’s unemployment rate from 599,600 in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 588,700 people in the first quarter of this year, said Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar.

He said the interstate unemployment rate also reduced in tandem with the decline in the national unemployment rate, with Putrajaya recording the lowest rate of unemployment of 0.8 percent, followed by Perlis (2.1 percent), Penang (2.3 percent) and Negeri Sembilan (2.5 percent).