On July 7 2022, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that the total population outside of the labour force in May 2022 was 7.26 million. This number has decreased from 7.4 million in May of the previous year.
The “population outside of the labour force” refers to persons that are neither employed nor unemployed. In other words, such a group has no intention of working. Sometimes, they are also seen as economically inactive persons, for example, the retirees and disabled persons. However, this is not always seen as “bad” in the society as the young aged 15-24, for example, are still in the education system, while women aged 24-35 may be on their “career breaks” to raise their children. Similarly, are individuals who choose to become full time managers of their households such as housewives and care givers.
More challenging is when individuals outside of the labour force are the ones who purposely have no intention of looking for jobs even though they neither have any family responsibilities nor health issues. Unlike the unemployed persons whom referred as those who did not work at the current moment but interested to work and actively looking for a job, these type of people are really not interested to work.
Allah SWT mentions in the Quran, “…disperse throughout the land and seek the bounty of Allah” (Al-Jumuah, 62: 10). Imam al-Khallāl in his book al-Ḥaththu, highlights the recommendation to work and to do business as opposed to those who only stand by idly and ignoring to work. Likewise, the person who does business is better than the person who sits doing nothing. The book also states that the prophets and companions also worked for a living. Prophet Muhammad SAW used to work for payment, Prophet Idris AS worked as a tailor and Prophet Zakaria AS worked as a carpenter. Meanwhile, Umar bin Al-Khattab mentioned that dying on a horse’s saddle while in a state of seeking the blessings of Allah SWT was more desirable than dying on a mattress.
Traditionally, those who do not work become dependents of those who do. This include those who intentionally have no interest to work. Apart from being unproductive dependents, they are also in contradiction to the Islamic principle as the Prophet SAW said that a person who was looking for firewood, and then selling it at the market was better than one hoping for help from others which was uncertain if it would be given (Sahih Al-Bukhari).
The labour participation rate is one of the main keys to economic development and growth for a country. Therefore, we have to look carefully at the number of persons outside of the labour force and act accordingly. First, the number can reflect the pattern of the working environment which may less supportive to employees. For example, a big number of women outside the labour force may be due to issues in childcare. Second, the figures may refer to the need to increase incentives for employees who are also caregivers for the elderly or disabled individuals. Third, it can also show a change in society’s perspective towards jobs. Fourth, the job definition itself may not be clear to the society.
In the Malaysian Labour Force Survey Report 2021, out of the 7.22 million persons outside of the labour force, 45.2 per cent of them were due to housework or family responsibilities, 41.1 per cent was schooling or in training, 1.5 per cent was going for further studies, 3.4 per cent were disabled, 7.8 percent were retirees or the elderly while the rest of one per cent was not interested to work.
From another point of view, individuals who are out of the labour force because of family responsibilities and/or still schooling/ in training, do not necessarily mean they do not generate any income. Today, jobs have evolved in parallel with current developments. Jobs are no longer tied to traditional working hours, premises or employers. Even individuals can always work with employers from abroad without having to be present within the same country.
Therefore, the possibility that individuals who are outside of the labour force would be able to generate income even though they do not have any formal jobs since they might feel that informal income generating activities do not meet the traditional job standard. For example, a housewife who runs a business from home and a self-employed household caregiver. In such cases, such persons are no longer considered as “economically inactive persons.”
Thus, data collection related to socioeconomics is very important for national development planning. From there, the policy maker may arrange strategic moves according to the needs and demands of each sector respectively. In the labour sector, accuracy of statistics provides the way labour markets work, its strengths and weaknesses as well as the trends observed and expected. It is also a way to observe the national economy performance based on the policies drafted. A clear definition of a job nowadays, for example, may ensure that any individual whose income surpasses the taxable level fulfils his or her responsibility to the nation. Of course, Muslims must also pay the zakat if the income meets its haul and nisab.
Therefore, an in-depth study may give a new perspective on the outside labour force and the very definition of the job itself since an “economically inactive person” might be discounted from appropriate classification in the economy.