Speaker
Description
This paper investigates the long-run relationship between digital economy development and unemployment in Malaysia using quarterly data from Q1 2010 to Q1 2024. The digital economy, characterized by technological advancement and ICT integration, has raised concerns and opportunities regarding labor market dynamics. Grounded in Okun's Law, this study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to assess the influence of ICT sector GDP contribution, FDI inflows in ICT, mobile cellular subscriptions, and broadband subscriptions on unemployment. In addition, the study also to observe the co-integration relationship between variables, short- and long-run relationships, the most dominant variable, as well as to identify the influence of each independent variable on unemployment. The findings confirm a co-integration relationship and reveal that mobile cellular and broadband subscriptions significantly reduce unemployment in the long run, while ICT GDP contribution surprisingly shows a positive association. Policy recommendations are proposed to align with Malaysia MADANI aspirations and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing ICT infrastructure development and inclusive digital access.
Keywords: Digital Economy, Unemployment, Malaysia, ARDL, ICT, Mobile Subscriptions,SDGs
