Some 36,000 Malaysians, 3.6 per cent of the total population, were unemployed between Oct 2008 and Dec 2009, Deputy Human Resources Minister Maznah Mazlan said today.

She said most of the unemployed were those laid off from the manufacturing sector which was badly affected by the recession in the United States in 2008.

"Due to the economic crisis in the US, many workers were temporarily laid off. Companies in the manufacturing sector had to reduce their production due to the drop in demand," she was quoted by Bernama as saying after a Chap Goh Mei celebration in Rompin, Pahang, yesterday.

However, Maznah said the number was still under control compared to the 84,000 laid offs during the Asian economic crisis in 1997.

She said the ministry managed to get some 29,000 of the laid off workers to be rehired while the rest were offered retraining.