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You guys found very good articles and analysis are sound. Looking forward to read your report.

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Outline
1. Intro (Basic information about country; GDP, population, unemployment, rate, etc)
Also intro the economic issues/topics we are planning to write in this project
2. Economic Issue 1: Unemployment
3. Economic Issue 2: GDP
4. Economic Issue 3: Inflation
5. Conclusion

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For Introduction: Malaysia's Economy at glance

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For Introduction: Malaysia's Economy at glance

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This link has all the basic information we need for our introduction

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Malaysia | Economic Forecasts | 2017-2020 Outlook

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This page has economic forecasts for Malaysia including a long-term outlook for the next decades, plus medium-term expectations for the next four quarters and short-term market predictions for the next release affecting the Malaysia economy.

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PETALING JAYA: The country's unemployment rate has inched up by 0.1 percentage points to 3.5% in December 2016 compared to the previous month, according to the Statistics Department.

On a year-on-year comparison, the unemployment rate was also up 0.1 percentage point from December 2015.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, however, the department noted that the unemployment rate had decreased 0.1 percentage points to 3.5%.

It said that in December 2016, 14,276,700 people were employed out of the country's total labour force of 14,788,900, while 512,000 were unemployed.

Malaysia's total labour force participation rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 67.6% in December 2016, compared to the previous month.

A year-on-year comparison showed that the labour force participation rate in December 2016 was down 0.3 percentage points compared to December 2015.

In a statement yesterday, the department noted that 32.4% or 7,072,800 of the country's working age population, which is between the ages 15 and 64 years, were outside the labour force, mainly consisting of housewives, students, retired or disabled persons and those not interested in working.

Last month, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said the country's unemployment rate was still "manageable" and unlikely to exceed 3.5% this year despite the global economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank Research has estimated that the country's real GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 4.7% year-on-year, indicating a 4.3% full-year growth. It noted in a report yesterday that this number was slightly above its full-year estimate of 4.2%.

The research house said the estimate was based on the fact that during the quarter, industrial production growth quickened, index of services slowed, the drop in palm oil output eased - pointing to smaller contraction in the agriculture sector - while growth in the value of construction works moderated.

Affin Hwang Capital Research raised its real GDP growth estimate to 4.5% for the quarter, against its earlier estimate of 4.3%, based on better than expected quarter four 2016 industrial and manufacturing production. For 2016, the research house expects real GDP growth to average at around 4.3%, compared to 5% in 2015.

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Malaysia's jobless rate up slightly - Business News | The Star Online

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PETALING JAYA: The country's unemployment rate has inched up by 0.1 percentage points to 3.5% in December 2016 compared to the previous month, according to the Statistics Department. On a year-on-year comparison, the unemployment rate was also up 0.1 percentage point from December 2015.

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SINCE 1998 and the end of the Asian financial crisis, the unemployment rate in Malaysia has not risen above 3.7% and the average for the last 18 years has been 3.3%. We have had full employment for so long that we almost take this for granted; anyone who wants a job can get one.

This is not the case in many other countries. The unemployment rate is higher in the developed countries, for example, the US (5.3%), UK (5.3%), and Germany (4.6 %); in high middle-income countries with a comparable GDP per person to ours, for example, Chile (5.8%), Mexico (4.3%), and Brazil (8.5%); and in countries with populations close to ours, for example, Saudi Arabia (5.6%), Peru (3.4%), and Venezuela (6.8%).

Of the major Asean economies, Indonesia (6.2%) and the Philippines (6.3%) have higher rates and only Singapore (1.7%) and Thailand (0.2%) do better. Thailand has one of lowest unemployment rates in the world, which a Thai central bank spokesman has attributed to the fact that "The agricultural sector absorbs labourers and those who can't find work can always look for jobs in the informal sector or do something on their own.''

Unemployment among young people aged between 15 and 24 is particularly acute in parts of Europe and the Middle East where it is above 20% and higher than general unemployment rate. In Spain, it is a staggering 48.3%. In our country, 9.3% of those aged 20 to 24 but only 3.5% of those aged 25 to 29 who want to work are not employed.

While our rate of youth unemployment is nowhere near Spanish levels, we ought to be concerned about why young people are the largest and growing portion of those who are unemployed.

In 2015 alone, 122,764 graduated with first degrees from our private and public universities (this does not include Malaysians who graduated from universities abroad). Every year more people receive degrees, which makes each new generation of graduates our best ever educated generation.

In 1985, only 127,000 people in total, or 2.1% of the entire workforce, were graduates. Just having a degree made one stand out. Now, it is 12% of the workforce, or 1.74 million people. Ten years ago, in 2006, 63,998 graduated from our public and private universities, but by 2015, as mentioned earlier, it was close to double that figure.

Competition among graduates has gotten far more intense. We have democratised university entrance and made it no longer the preserve of those from privileged backgrounds or who top the class in exams.

Graduate unemployment, therefore, receives the most attention but the question of youth unemployment goes further, as most young people do not have a tertiary education. Every year, 450,000 or so children enter standard one and not all of them will enter university. Some may even drop out of school and start looking for employment at the age of 15.

Theories abound as to why young people cannot find a job: millennials are choosy or unwilling to work hard; graduates have a poor command of English and lack communication skills; there are not enough jobs that require the skills and qualifications that young people have been taught; migrant labour has taken away jobs from Malaysians; or the rise in the retirement age to 60 has meant less job openings for the young. The list goes on.

But then, since time immemorial there have always been lazy and hard-working people and it is only natural that young people try to choose the best job there is. Surely not every job needs a person who is an extrovert and fluent in English. Perhaps employers have an unrealistic expectation of the quality of candidates they will get for the salary they are offering.

Maybe young people have not been steered into learning the right skills or getting the right qualifications relevant to the job market or worse, have been steered into courses that they never had a desire to take (only 42% of those who graduated in 2015 had a science, technical or engineering, or ICT-related degree).

While a migrant labourer may take the job of a Malaysian with only primary school education, most youths are far better educated and are hardly at risk of being replaced by an uneducated migrant worker.

Unfortunately, we do not have enough data to understand what the root causes of rising youth unemployment are. Our economy has been growing and is still creating jobs. In August 2016, there were 129,387 job vacancies, a 25.2% increase from a year earlier. So, why are so many young people unemployed and what can be done about it?

To answer this, we at Khazanah Research Institute are undertaking a major long-term nationwide study. With support from the public, we hope that we will get good data and be able to propose possible solutions.
Datuk Charon Wardini Mokhzani is managing director of Khazanah Research Institute and would like to thank his colleagues for their research for this article. The State of Households II, which was published by the institute last August, has more information on this topic and can be read or downloaded at www.KRInstitute.org

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Why are young people unemployed? - Business News | The Star Online

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Comment - By CHARON WARDINi MOKHZANISINCE 1998 and the end of the Asian financial crisis, the unemployment rate in Malaysia has not risen above 3.7% and the average for the last 18 years has been 3.3%. We have had full employment for so long that we almost take this for granted; anyone who wants a job can get one.

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GDP

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Economic expansion slowed to 4.2% in 2016 from 5% in 2015

Recovery in commodity prices strengthens the growth outlook

Malaysia's economy grew at the fastest pace in a year last quarter, as stronger consumer spending and an export recovery helped counter falling government expenditure.

Gross domestic product rose 4.5 percent last quarter from a year earlier, Bank Negara Malaysia said in an e-mailed statement Thursday

The median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 4.4 percent

GDP expanded a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent from the previous three months

The economy grew 4.2 percent in 2016 from 5 percent in 2015

Big Picture
Click here to read Malaysia's central bank sees domestic demand as key growth driver
Malaysia's economy has come under pressure in recent years as lower commodity prices and a slump in global demand hurt exports and crimped revenue. Domestic consumption has been a key growth driver and the central bank has kept interest rates low to help support spending.

A rebound in oil prices gives the government more room to spend, allowing it to roll out infrastructure projects including new rail lines in the capital and a highway connecting the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. The central bank took steps to curb offshore trading of the ringgit last year as it plunged about 10 percent against the U.S. dollar in the past six months. Rising inflation may limit the scope for further policy easing to support growth.

"We expect Malaysia's growth to stabilize at around 4.5 percent over the next couple of years," Krystal Tan, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in Singapore, said in a note. "Against a backdrop of lackluster external demand, the non-commodity export sector is unlikely to provide a significant lift to the economy either, despite the boost to the competitiveness of Malaysian non-commodity exports from a fall in the currency."
"High levels of household debt will constrain private consumption growth," she said. "What's more, there is little scope for additional fiscal or monetary policy support to push growth higher."

"It is an encouraging set of numbers and affirms expectations that growth will remain in a relatively safe zone of above 4 percent," said Julia Goh, an economist with United Overseas Bank Ltd. in Kuala Lumpur. "The only question I have is the resiliency of the services sector which, if it moderates further, could be a drag to overall growth. There's also the risk of protectionist policies that could derail the recovery in global trade."

Economist Takeaways

Other Details

Private consumption expenditure, which makes up about half of gross domestic product, climbed 6.2 percent last quarter from a year ago

Public sector spending fell 4.2 percent

Exports rose 1.3 percent, after contracting in the previous three months

Growth in the services industry, the biggest in the economy, slowed to 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter from 6.1 percent in the previous three months

Manufacturing rose 4.8 percent from 4.2 percent

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Strong Consumer Spending Spurs Malaysia's Growth to 1-Year High

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Economic expansion slowed to 4.2% in 2016 from 5% in 2015 Recovery in commodity prices strengthens the growth outlook Malaysia's economy grew at the fastest pace in a year last quarter, as stronger consumer spending and an export recovery helped counter falling government expenditure.

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KUALA LUMPUR * Malaysia's consumer price index (CPI) rose to an eight-year high in February, but it is unlikely to lead to any changes in monetary policy.

Annual inflation grew 4.5 per cent in February, the highest since November 2008 when it hit 5.7 per cent. In January, the annual rate was 3.2 per cent.

Economists said a fuel price hike in February and a low base stemming from a cut in transport costs from last year contributed to the month's high inflation rate.

The pass-through of higher global oil prices to domestic fuel costs will be the key driver of inflation this year, said Mr Ng Weiwen, an economist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore.

Inflation may accelerate further to about 5 per cent this month, he said.

"However, growth dynamics do not point to the emergence of strong demand-pull inflationary pressures," Mr Ng said. "The central bank is likely to maintain its policy rate at 3 per cent through 2017."

Transport costs surged 17.9 per cent in February from a year ago, after increasing 8.3 per cent in the previous month.

Food prices, which make up 30 per cent of the CPI basket, rose 4.3 per cent from a year ago.

Rising inflation, however, was not seen as worrying Malaysia's central bank, as it was mainly due to the adjustments in domestic fuel prices, said Mr Brian Tan, an economist with Nomura in Singapore.

"We don't foresee any changes to policy as it's clear they remain quite cautious to any potential downside risk to growth, and they don't want to jump the gun too early," he said.

Bank Negara said last Thursday it expected inflation to average between 3 and 4 per cent this year.

Mr Edward Lee, regional head of research at Standard Chartered, said: "They are watchful now but, at the same time, I think they are looking beyond this cost-push inflation."

Policymakers have already adjusted their inflation forecasts higher, so they have "already pre-empted this increase in the headline inflation", he said.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS

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Malaysia inflation surges to highest in 8 years

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KUALA LUMPUR * Malaysia's consumer price index (CPI) rose to an eight-year high in February, but it is unlikely to lead to any changes in monetary policy. Annual inflation grew 4.5 per cent in February, the highest since November 2008 when it hit 5.7 per cent.

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With the increase in standard of living, graduates nowadays are not willing to work under the hot sun such as sales, promoters, or even contractors. Most of them will find air-condition workplace. However, Malaysians do not have high education of English compared to other countries such as Singapore, which is slightly losing out from big companies where they have to collaborate with other countries out there besides ASEAN countries. Limited jobs for the graduates leads to increase of unemployment as they are picky about what they have to work. Older adults with lower education is easily substitute by migrant labour as they they cheaper in pay and they do not demand for more benefits. Migrant labour do not choose their work, they are willing to work under the hot sun. However, local workers are more picky on their working environment. Thus, increase in unemployment rate, shows that Malaysia is not doing well in their employment rate by hiring more migrant labour than coming out with more jobs that offers what young graduates are taught in school and able to use in their workforce and it  shows that the economy is not at the bright side.