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%).
