A Study on Production Cost in the Malaysian Manufacturing Sector

马来西亚目前面临的最重要的经济问题之一是如何维持经济增长。特别是，高工资被认为是影响经济持续增长的主要负面因素。马来西亚经济通过利用低工资劳动力迅速增长。鉴于与亚洲较不发达国家相比，目前的高工资状况，增长的可持续性是一个主要问题；外国直接投资公司已迁出马来西亚，以避免高昂的生产成本。从生产力和生产成本的角度分析马来西亚与亚洲欠发达国家相比是否具有竞争力。经济计量分析表明，与2001年和2009年相比，马来西亚电子和电气公司在劳动力方面的优势正在下降。这一结果意味着马来西亚主导产业的竞争力正在减弱。此外，实证分析不能排除马来西亚陷入所谓“中等收入陷阱”的可能性。

One of the most important economic issues that Malaysia now faces is the problem of how to sustain economic growth. In particular, high labor wages are considered to be a major negative factor for economic growth sustainability. The Malaysian economy grew quickly by taking advantage of low-wage labor. Given the current state of high wages in comparison with less developed countries in Asia, the sustainability of growth is a major concern; FDI companies have moved out of Malaysia to avoid high production costs. From the viewpoint of productivity and production costs, I analyze whether Malaysia is competitive in comparison with less developed countries in Asia.The econometric analysis suggests that the advantage of electronic and electrical companies in Malaysia is, in the viewpoint of labor, decreasing, when comparing those in 2001 and 2009. This result implies leading industry's competitiveness of Malaysia is becoming weak. Furthermore, the empirical analysis cannot reject the possibility that Malaysia is caught in the so-called Middle Income Trap.