Anthony D'Costa wrote: > On Jim's comment about unemployment in Malaysia, my feeling has been that > Malaysia rides with Singapore and thus has relatively low unemployment, > although has much lower wages than Singapore. I found this online on > Malaysia's unemployment rate. Seems low to me. > > http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Unemployment-rate.aspx?symbol=MYR
I don't know whether or not unemployment is low in Malaysia. The problem is that it's really hard to compare unemployment in Malaysia, with that in (say) the US since the economic structures are so different. Isn't it true that there's a lot of "hidden" unemployment in Malaysia because people go back to the farm or sell cheap items on the city streets (or "hustle" in some other way) when in the US, they might be counted as unemployed. The difference is that in the US, unemployment insurance allows unemployed people to avoid taking the first job offered even if it doesn't fit their skills, etc., while in many poorer countries, the rural and informal sectors provide the "safety net." Anyway, my point was that rising U in Malaysia might prevent Singapore's U from rising -- or lower it. Like a lot of places, the US does this to some extent: when U rises in the US, suddenly fewer people in Mexico are able to seek jobs here, so that (all else constant) U rises there. -- Jim Devine "All science would be superfluous if the form of appearance of things directly coincided with their essence." -- KM _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
