Question

Discuss five (5) factors that have influenced the trend of the structure of the manufacturing sector in Malaysia over the past 10 years

Answer 1

Malaysian economy has experienced a relatively rapid growth during last 20 years and has also undergone various structural changes. The manufacturing sector slowly becomes the leading sector in it.

Factors that influenced the structure of manufacturing sector in Malaysia is:

1. Sources of data:

The data of manufacturing sector of Malaysia is derived from the department of statistics, Malaysia. The data that is derived is in the form of nominal term and we have to transform it into real terms by deflating the Gross value of output, the value of fixed assets.

Due to lack of data on man- hours of work, the labor input index is constructed on the basis of the person employed.

2. The factors affecting the output growth of the manufacturing sectors are the individual contribution of capital, labor employed as ( skilled, semi- skilled and unskilled) and materials.

3. Factors that affect the labor productivity of manufacturing sector are of material- labor ratio.Sometimes the ratio of labor per material is not correct that influenced the manufacturing sector.

4. The factor that influenced the manufacturing sector in Malaysia is that the number of skilled labor are less as compared to unskilled and semi- skilled labor. As a result of it the total productivity of the sector go down.

5. The main problem that is encountered is lack of adequate , accurate, and up to date data

All these factors influenced the trend of the structure of manufacturing sector in Malaysia.