Book Description

In the 1990s, the issue of human resource development in Malaysia has gained prominence in public and private policy circles. Discussions center around training policy, where there are concerns about acute labor shortages, and around industrial development policy, which strives to maintain a skilled and well-trained workforce to increase competitiveness and attract foreign direct investment. But policymakers have been forced to make critical decisions on resource allocation and to design policies without access to comprehensive training data, especially from the private sector. This usually results in supply-oriented policies stemming from mismatches between skills supplied by public training institutions and those actually needed by industry. This report attempts to fill this information gap on private sector training as an aid in formulating training policies that are more demand-driven. The report contains rigorous analysis of private sector-led training and addresses the issue of whether firms in Malaysia underinvest in training. Data came from the Malaysia Economic Planning Units 1994-95 survey and analysis of 2,200 manufacturing firms. The survey elicited information on firm-sponsored training and on a wide range of firm attributes, including size, industry, local or foreign ownership, equipment technology, quality control systems, markets and exports, workforce characteristics, wages and other compensation, and production. The data document, for the first time, the incidence and characteristics of training in Malaysian industry, across firms of different sizes, ownership, and output profiles. The data create an unprecedented opportunity to study the critical links between training, new technology, and quality control. A joint publication of the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Malaysia Economic Planning Unit.