Figure 5.4 Malaysia: Breakdown of Labor Force by Sector, 2000–08 (millions) 8.9
10.5
16.2%
14.7%
3.8% 6.3%
3.1% 7.1%
9.3%
44.6%
100%
Mature economy average, 2007 (% of total employment)
Total change in employment, 2000 - 2008 (Million jobs)
Primary Resources
3
0.1
Labor-intensive manufacturing
2
0.0
Capital-intensive manufacturing
6
0.2
Knowledge-intensive manufacturing
5
-0.1
Labor & Capital intensive services
42
1.0
Knowledge-intensive services
17
0.1
Health, education and public services
26
0.4
6.6%
47.4%
2.5%
2.6%
17.3%
18.5%
2000
2008
Source: Based on data from MGI 2012; UNIDO 2012; ILO 2012. Note: The number of employees engaged in manufacturing activities are based on the UNIDO statistics, while the rest are based on the ILO data. 5.1.4 Education
Education has witnessed significant developments and increased attention from policy makers in Malaysia since the 1970s. A number of legislative acts, institutions, committees, and initiatives for the development of education standards and levels have been active over the past decades. Despite measurable improvements in education and enrollment levels, a number of issues remain. These issues include: the mismatch between supply and demand, national brain drain (Fleming and Søborg 2012), as well as a relatively high unemployment rate among fresh graduates (Woo 2006). A closer look at the country’s achievements in education over the past two decades shows a significant increase in the percentage of secondary- and tertiary-educated workers. In 2010 the share of secondaryeducated workers in the total workforce reached 56 percent, an increase from 36 percent in 1982. A similar increase was achieved in tertiary education levels. Graduates with tertiary education constituted 6 percent of the total labor force in 1982; two decades later, the percentage reached 24 percent of the total labor force (Fleming and Søborg 2012). This can be potentially credited to an increase in government spending on education. In 2009 Malaysian expenditure on education reached 5.8 percent of GDP, higher than the 2008 U.S. estimates of 5.5 percent and higher than other regional countries such as Thailand with 4.1 percent and Indonesia with 3.5 percent of GDP (as shown in Table 5.3). Although, the overall quality of education remains a challenge for doing business in Malaysia (Schwab 2011)—the quality of primary education was rated 5 out of 7 in the Global Competitiveness Report of 2010. The enrollment rate was 94.1 and 68.7 percent for primary and secondary education, respectively (WEF 2011). The mean year of schooling of adults over 25 years was 9.5 years and adult literacy rate was 92.5 percent (UNDP 2011). The country’s facilities for higher education are located predominantly in the Peninsular Malaysia surrounding the urban area of the capital and main cities (MOHE 2012). Currently, there are 20 public universities and 26 private universities (Fleming and Søborg 2012).
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