Introduction
Dr. Jan-Jan Soon is Associate Professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia. She received a 3-year postgraduate scholarship from New Zealand’s University of Otago where she earned her PhD in economics. She did her postdoctoral research at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and was a Visiting Scholar at the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany. Her research and publication work straddles the realms of higher education, labour and migration economics. She is a European Commission Registered Expert, and sits in the 2024-2026 Exco Committee of the Malaysian Economic Association.
Expert
Using microeconometric estimation analyses, my empirical work mostly addresses issues of policy implications pertaining to migrants’ labour market outcomes, and employment issues of university graduates. Due to my specific skill set in using a unique type of advanced econometric tool, I was invited to join a consultancy project commissioned by the Malaysian Ministry of Education to evaluate the impact of the Malaysian national early childhood education programme, targeted to pre-school children from less privileged families.
Fields of expertise: Economic policy / inclusive economic development, Education, Migration, Monitoring and evaluation