IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jda/journl/vol.49year2015issue5pp213-223.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Returns to Education and Wage Differentials in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Mohd Nahar Mohd Arshad
  • Gairuzazmi Mat Ghani

    (International Islamic University, Malaysia)

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to estimate the effects of education on earnings of Malaysians. To achieve the objective, a Mincerian earning function has been estimated using Malaysia’s Household Income Survey 2009. Apart from considering levels of qualification, factors such as age, marital status, ethnicity, occupational types and geographical locations have been considered in the estimations. The results show that the rates of return in Malaysia are high and positive, especially at the upper secondary and university education levels. Male workers, on average, received 40.3% higher than their female counterparts, holding other factors constant. There is also significant evidence of wage differential attributable to regional/urban-rural locations in Malaysia. By occupational activities, our estimates suggest that employers received the highest income, followed by those in public service, private sector, and then self-employed workers. Wage differential in Malaysia is also explained by ethnicity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohd Nahar Mohd Arshad & Gairuzazmi Mat Ghani, 2015. "Returns to Education and Wage Differentials in Malaysia," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 49(5), pages 213-223, Special I.
    • Handle: RePEc:jda:journl:vol.49:year:2015:issue5:pp:213-223
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_developing_areas/v049/49.5.arshad.html
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rate of return; human capital; wage differentials; education; Malaysia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jda:journl:vol.49:year:2015:issue5:pp:213-223. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Abu N.M. Wahid (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cbtnsus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.