ABSTRACT
To provide a context for Malaysia, the following are the most recent preliminary figures for 2008 from the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia 2009: 8):
• population: 27.7 million persons; • labour force: 12.0 million persons; • employment: 11.5 million persons with an unemployment rate as a per-
centage of labour force quoted in the report as 3.7 per cent; • per capita income: RM25,796 (US$7,738).
