Labour Mobility and Unemployment : Some Evidence from Labour Force Survey

The rise and persistence of unemployment emerged as a serious macroeconomics problem during the 1980s. This highlighted the possibility of imperfect labour mobility as significant factor. Thus, understanding the relationship between labour mobility and unemployment is important in analyzing the unemployment during the 1980s. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) data from 1975 to 1990 inclusively, this dissertation analyzes this relationship at both aggregate and disaggregate levels. At the aggregate level, the relationship appears to be negative with no evidence that labour mobility drives aggregate unemployment. This negative relationship also emerges at industry and regional level. These results point against sectoral shock explanations for the rise in joblessness. However, both high unemployment industries and regions have higher mobility. This suggests that the unemployment can affect mobility differently at two levels. First, at the aggregate level, it may reduce mobility through its effects on job offer arrival probabilities, and the potential cost of changing industry. At the industry and regional level, it may raise mobility. Since the unemployment differences across industries and regions represent varying employment opportunities and prospects, high differences may encourage mobility towards low unemployment industries and regions. The data also suggests a role for individual heterogeneity. Among the selected high unemployment demographic groups, old workers, male workers, and nonwhite workers have low mobility. However, high unemployment young and manual workers, they have high labour mobility. Thus, low mobility as symptom of high unemployment only applied to certain groups. Policies constructed to reduce unemployment by raising mobility must target the appropriate groups

Overeducation and happiness in the Malaysian graduate labour market

The objective of this paper is to examine overeducation among Malaysian graduates with focus on its association with predetermined (before they enter the labour market) and current level of overall life happiness.Results reveal that there are a substantial percentage of overeducated graduates.Graduates who reported a higher level of predetermined happiness are less likely to be overeducated. Overeducation is also significantly and negatively associated with one’s current level of happiness.This finding suggests ‘hysterias’ of overeducation and supports Job Competition Theory’s prediction on persistent of overeducation.Thus, happiness might be one of the reasons why overeducation is a persistent and durable phenomenon

The impacts of oil shocks on Malaysia's GDP growth

This paper suggests that instrumental variable regression is a good alternative to nonlinear specification model when estimating the impacts of oil shocks on GDP growth in Malaysia

Revisiting The Easterlin Paradox: What Can We Learn from It?

This paper examines the Easterlin paradox using empirical and simulated data. The results reveal that the existence of Easterlin paradox could be just due to the rating scale of happiness measurement. The rating scale measurement of self-reported happiness limits the variation of happiness of time series data due to the averaging effect compared to the happiness variation of cross-sectional data. Mathematically, the low variation of happiness can lead to the Easterlin paradox: cross-sectional effects of income on happiness are significant but turn into insignificant for time series happiness. The result of simulated data without the scale of happiness measurement, i.e., the underlying happiness, shows that the effects of income on happiness are significant at cross-sectional and time series data. Nevertheless, once the limited scale of happiness measurement, i.e., the self-reported happiness, is used, the income effect is significant only at cross-sectional data. Thus, the low variation in scale of measurement can be the cause of the Easterlin paradox. What we can learn is: the limited scale of happiness measurement produces the Easterlin paradox, and the happiness measurement needs to be revised to ensure the variation in happiness could be captured adequately

Estimating the determinants of vehicle loan default in Malaysia: an exploratory study

As revealed by Malaysia’s bankruptcy statistics, around a quarter of bankruptcy in Malaysia is due to default of vehicle loan.This has led to the tightening up of vehicle loan underwriting and increased vehicle loan rejection rates. The need for a better credit risk scoring model is also raised by the banks.This warrants a study to estimate the determinants of vehicle loan default in Malaysia.This paper estimates the determinants of vehicle loan default probability which could be used to build a loan default prediction or forecasting model for credit risk scoring purposes.Using a simple random sample of 138 car loan borrowers that was provided by an established bank in Malaysia, the descriptive statistical procedures and econometrics modelling were performed to unveil these vehicle loan default determinants.Results of descriptive statistics revealed that more than half of the borrowers were default.Results of logit models further revealed that loan related characteristics are the most important determinants of probability of default.Specifically, the significant determinants of loan default were: areas of residence, vehicle purchase price, length of service, existing relationship with bank, interest rate, and available guarantor.Borrowers who are in high risk of default are characteristically those who reside in rural areas, secure higher vehicle purchase price, have longer length of employment service, are borrowers new to the bank, acquire loans charged with high interest rates, and are without a guarantor

The effectiveness of location incentive: An analytical study of manufacturing SMEs in the Kedah State

The main objective of this research is to find out the effectiveness of location incentive in att racting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to a certain industrial location in the state of Kedah. The location choice identified in this research would be Sungai Petani and non-Sungai Petani industrial areas. By using the logit model, we found that location incentive is not as effective as other factors in attracting SMEs in setting up their establishments in Kedah. The important factors that influence the location choice of manufacturing SMEs are (i) the years of operation of an SME, and (ii) the physical distribution of an SME product

Estimating the determinants of vehicle loan default in Malaysia: an exploratory study

As revealed by Malaysia’s bankruptcy statistics, around a quarter of bankruptcy in Malaysia is due to default of vehicle loan.This has led to the tightening up of vehicle loan underwriting and increased vehicle loan rejection rates. The need for a better credit risk scoring model is also raised by the banks.This warrants a study to estimate the determinants of vehicle loan default in Malaysia.This paper estimates the determinants of vehicle loan default probability which could be used to build a loan default prediction or forecasting model for credit risk scoring purposes.Using a simple random sample of 138 car loan borrowers that was provided by an established bank in Malaysia, the descriptive statistical procedures and econometrics modelling were performed to unveil these vehicle loan default determinants.Results of descriptive statistics revealed that more than half of the borrowers were default.Results of logit models further revealed that loan related characteristics are the most important determinants of probability of default.Specifically, the significant determinants of loan default were: areas of residence, vehicle purchase price, length of service, existing relationship with bank, interest rate, and available guarantor.Borrowers who are in high risk of default are characteristically those who reside in rural areas, secure higher vehicle purchase price, have longer length of employment service, are borrowers new to the bank, acquire loans charged with high interest rates, and are without a guarantor

Factors affecting choice for education destination: A case study of international students at Universiti Utara Malaysia

The importance of higher education services as a new source of income has intensified the effort not only by the developed nations but the developing countries alike, to offer their services to the international students. Most countries recognize that maintaining quality education is crucial as to ensure the long term competitiveness. Quality education signifies a very broad definition and it is vital for each country to correctly identify the factors that really attract international students to pursue their studies in particular places. With regard to the issue, this study attempts to identify the possible factors that may influence the decision making of international student when choosing higher education destination. In order to arrive at the result, we carry out the study by determining the factors that significantly influence the international students to recommend Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) to their friends in their home country. The study is conducted using a sample of 300 international students. The factor analysis and a regression using the logit model are used. The finding suggests that excellent services, pleasant social environment, first class physical infrastructure and high quality of lecturers matter

Retaining international students for advanced degree in Malaysia: quality matters

As the world is becoming more globalised, cross border education continues to preoccupy the agenda of internationalisation of higher education with more and more countries participating as education providers. Competition for students requires the education providers to step-up in their quality assurance and governance as to ensure their sustainability in years to come. The shift of intention from merely focusing on internationalisation as a source of revenue generation to a more diverse objective of talent development that promotes research and innovation is imperative. Thus, the ability of the host countries to attract high quality students and retain them for further degree is nevertheless essential. Despite huge literature concentrating on identifying the factors that can attract potential international students to enrol in host countries, few known studies have been carried out to identify the factors that are able to influence the choice of the currently enrolled international students to remain in Malaysia for their further degrees. Using the data of 753 international students, gathered from a sample of few universities in Malaysia, this particular study employs a Logit Model in an attempt to identify the educational choice motives that influence the decision of the currently enrolled international students to remain in Malaysia for their higher level of study. The finding shows that the consumption motive dominates the investment motive, suggesting that students’ decision to remain in Malaysia for further degree is highly related to the consumption motive as compared to the investment motive. A comfortable study environment, high quality services and facilities, excellent faculty members and easy access to information regarding matters related to education in Malaysia significantly influence the students’ decision to stay to further their studies. The findings from this study lend support to a commonly held view that the quality of education matters