Industrialization and employment policies in Malaysia: a critical review and an alternative

Abstract

The average growth of GDP in Malaysia has been around 5 percent per annum since the early 1960's. With a high per capita income relative to many of her Asian neighbours, a mostly favourable balance of payments and relatively stable prices, Malaysia has often been described as a showpiece of successful economic development (Kasper: 1974; Myint: 1967). More impressive were the annual rates of growth of manufacturing output; averaging 11.9 percent during the 1960's and 12.5 percent during the 1970's. The share of manufacturing in the GDP rose from 8.5 percent in 1960 to 13.4 percent in 1970 and 20.5 percent in 1980.