May Day Message by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in Komtar, George Town on 1 May 2014.
For decades, Malaysia has been wallowing in an economic dilemma known as the “middle-income trap”. This term denotes a situation where developing economies that have achieved middle-income status (per capita income of USD1,036 – USD12,516) are unable to compete with, on the one hand, low-cost labour in low-income economies, and on the other hand, innovation-driven productivity of advanced economies.
Therefore, it is critical for Malaysia to escape the middle-income trap and transform into a high-income economy. The Penang state government believes that this objective can be achieved by two ways, which are a rise in real wages and the creation of high-paying jobs for locals and not foreigners.