WAGES, jobs and unemployment are at the top of voters’ minds, according to a survey conducted by University of Malaya.

The survey, carried out between July and December last year, showed jobs and incomes were more important to voters than corruption, religion or education.

Crime and security came in second, followed by integrity and corruption.

Increasing prices of goods and rising living costs ranked fourth.

Other issues of concern, in order, were: education, rising housing prices, Malay special rights and Islam, migrants and foreign workers, freedom of religion and politicians over-politicising issues.

“This is just (a) preliminary (report). We will release a more detailed report in a few weeks,” said the survey’s lead researcher, Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi, today.

The survey involved questionnaires and open-ended focus groups involving 1,550 respondents in 12 parliamentary constituencies nationwide. The constituencies were Jerlun, Permatang Pauh, Kuala Krai, Kuala Terengganu, Sepang, Bandar Tun Razak, Gelang Patah, Pasir Gudang, Penampang, Semporna, Petra Jaya and Bandar Kuching. 

Of the 12 seats surveyed, three were Barisan Nasional while the rest were opposition – PKR (2). Amanah (2), DAP (2), Warisan (1), PAS (1) and independent (1). 

“The results are an average, as different constituencies’ voters have different priorities,” said Awang Azman, who is a faculty member of UM’s Academy of Malay Studies.

Jobs and income topped the concerns of most urban constituencies. Urban dwellers also tended to be more concerned about education issues compared with their rural counterparts, the findings showed. 

More rural constitencies, such as Jerlun, saw rising living costs as a top concern. 

The national unemployment rate was 3.4% as of October last year, according to the Statistics Department. 

The youth in Malaysia make up about 30% of the labour force and account for more than half of all unemployed workers. 

A total of 90% of unemployed youth said wages were too low, according to a survey released by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research in September. 

For those with jobs, the average salary nationwide grew by 1.3%, according to a report released last month by global management consulting firm Korn Ferry Hay Group (Korn Ferry).

The median wage for Malaysians went up by 3% between 2015 and 2016, according to the Statistics Department’s Salaries and Wages 2016 report, its most recent published report.  

However, given the 2.1% inflation rate in 2016, real wages in 2015-2016 might have only increased by 0.9% to RM1,959, or RM17 per month.

In Malaysia, 85% of household income comes from salaries and wages.

Malaysian households hardest hit by the rising cost of living were compounded by a lack of affordable housing, said the World Bank in its Malaysia Economic Monitor report released last month. 

The report said inflation had a disproportionate impact on lower-income households, especially those in urban areas, that spend a larger proportion of their income on goods and services that saw the most significant price increases. 

Malaysian households in the lowest-income deciles spent close to 40% of their expenditure on food, compared with about 25% for the highest-income deciles, the World Bank said. 

In presenting the federal budget last October, Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the country’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income distribution among a population, improved from 0.441 in 2009, when he assumed power, to 0.399 in 2016.

However, food and services prices had gone up due to the weaker ringgit, inflation and the goods and services tax (GST) in 2015, dampening the real purchasing power of households, economists had said.

In a report last October, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research executive director Zakariah Abdul Rashid said high inflation had curtailed Malaysians’ buying power.

“2017 is a year of high prices. The high inflation phenomenon has contributed to lower real income,” he had said. 

The inflation rate has averaged 4% in the first eight months of the year, which is considered high, he had said.

In comparison, Malaysia’s headline inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, was 2.1% in 2016. 

Citing Statistics Department data, Zakariah had said the real increment for household income between 2014 and 2016 may have been only 3.7%. 

He added that one way to reduce the burden among lower-income earners would be to raise the minimum wage from the current RM1,000 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. – January 6, 2018.