KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — High value-added economic activities and quality investments, particularly in knowledge-intensive industries, will create more opportunities for high-skilled and high paying jobs, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in its 2014 Annual Report released here today.
It also said the share of labour income to gross domestic product (GDP) in Malaysia rose steadily from 29.5 per cent in 2005 to 33.6 per cent in 2013.
The central bank said its analysis reinforces the need for Malaysia to continue to focus on strategies to increase the average wage levels, with the effect of raising the share of labour income.
Besides promotion of high value-added economic activities, BNM said productivity and high quality human capital also play major roles.
“Equally important are strategies to increase productivity in all areas of economic activity through the adoption of more advanced technology and elevating the overall skill level of the workforce
“A comprehensive development of high quality human capital also remains paramount in the country’s progress to a highly productive and high-income economy,” it said.
BNM said the gross domestic product by income (GDPI) approach it used, captured the total income accrued to households and firms engaged in the productive activity of an economy.
The income-based approach complements the existing computations of GDP using the production and expenditure approaches, thus providing more comprehensive information on Malaysia’s economy.
The GDPI measures the total income that the production activity generates for the owners of capital, for labour and for the government.
BNM explained that the three components of GDPI are the compensation of employees (labour income), gross operating surplus (capital income), and taxes less subsidies on production and imports.
In Malaysia, on average, capital income constitutes the largest component of GDPI, said BNM. — Bernama
