{"id":11294,"date":"2026-05-19T13:49:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propp.my\/?p=11294"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T05:51:07","slug":"malaysia-must-focus-on-job-quality-not-just-employment-says-world-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/malaysia-must-focus-on-job-quality-not-just-employment-says-world-bank","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia must focus on job quality, not just employment, says World Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"11294\" class=\"elementor elementor-11294\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5aeaef5c elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-gap-beside-yes elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-column-vertical-align-stretch\" data-id=\"5aeaef5c\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-extended\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6a93a47\" data-id=\"6a93a47\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-39814a43 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"39814a43\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.12.1 - 02-04-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg font-bitter\"><address class=\"location-block\">\n<div class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg font-bitter\"><address class=\"location-block\">KUALA LUMPUR: <span style=\"letter-spacing: 0px;\">Malaysia\u2019s main labour market challenge is no longer job availability, but whether workers are employed in productive and well-matched roles, says World Bank social protection senior economist Matthew Dornan.<\/span><\/address><\/div>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">He said strong employment figures hid growing concerns over wages, productivity, and skills-related underemployment, even as Malaysia\u2019s unemployment fell to its lowest level since 2014, while labour force participation reached a record high of 70.9%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Dornan said the economy grew by more than 5% last year, making the labour market appear healthier than it had been in more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">However, he said many tertiary-educated Malaysians were still working in jobs below their qualification levels because the economy was not creating enough high-skilled jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">He gave the example of tertiary-educated workers in Kelantan, 52.3% of whom he said were employed in lower-skilled roles, while the national rate for skills-related underemployment stood at about 36%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cThese people did the right thing. They studied, applied themselves, graduated, and entered the labour market, but the economy isn\u2019t generating enough high-skilled jobs to absorb them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cThe question is no longer whether Malaysians have jobs, it\u2019s whether those jobs are productive enough and well-matched to worker skills or capabilities,\u201d he said at the launch of the World Bank\u2019s 32nd Malaysia Economic Monitor report here today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Dornan said real wages had increased between 2010 and 2024, but that rising living costs and slower productivity growth had also limited broader income gains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">He said productivity per worker had increased by around 30% since 2010 compared with wage growth of about 43%, raising concerns about whether productivity growth could sustainably support future wage increases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cJobs are the primary channel through which economic growth translates into higher living standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Dornan also said Malaysia\u2019s most productive firms paid workers three times more than average firms but were not expanding fast enough to absorb more workers into high-skilled and better-paying jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Malaysia\u2019s unemployment rate remained at 2.9% in March 2026, its lowest level since November 2014, according to the statistics department. Total employment rose to 16.80 million amid growth in the services, manufacturing, and construction sectors.<\/p>\n<\/address><\/div>\n<pre><i>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freemalaysiatoday.com\/category\/nation\/2026\/05\/14\/malaysia-must-focus-on-job-quality-not-just-employment-says-world-bank\">https:\/\/www.freemalaysiatoday.com\/category\/nation\/2026\/05\/14\/malaysia-must-focus-on-job-quality-not-just-employment-says-world-bank<\/a><\/i><\/pre>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World Bank economist Matthew Dornan said Malaysia\u2019s most productive firms pay workers three times more than average firms but are not expanding fast enough to absorb more workers into high-skilled and better-paying jobs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-11294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-career"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11294"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11318,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11294\/revisions\/11318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propp.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}