Malaysian Graduates & Unemployment Crisis: The Whys

    Assalamualaikum and good day. We always thought that going to university will give us an opportunity to have a great career in the future but can we use that same ideology now? I'm afraid not. This is a very important topic to be discussed on because as a student that will graduate someday in the future, I must analyze these issues.

    We should be aware that unemployment is rising up even before this current pandemic. In this entry I will be seperating the articles into different parts just like before but instead we will ask questions in different sections.

Part 1: Is it true that the unemployment is rising among Malaysians graduates?
Part 2: Job opportunities insufficient or graduates are being picky?
Part 3: Can will blame the mismatch of skills?
Part 4: SDG + Conclusion + Hopes

Part 1: Is it true that the unemployment is rising among Malaysians graduates?

    Let's take a look the numbers and facts first. Malaysia's unemployment rate at 3.4% in 2017 which is a great news but graduates unemployment taking account 40.5% of the total unemployment. Also in 2017, youths unemployment rate is 10.8%. Breaking it down, 9.6% of these jobless youths were fresh grads.

    In April 2020, research reveals that 1 in 5 graduates are unemployed. Upon graduation, for 6 months. According to a study undertaken by the Graduate Tracer Study of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia, show that a cumulative number of 51,000 students graduate each year from both private and public universities.

    But then this September 2020, 75,000 out of 300,000 new graduates are estimated to be unemployed this year because of the global recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) reported. 41,161 out of last year's 330,557 graduates are still unemployed. The overall unemployment within the group would add up to a whopping 116,161 individuals with the addition of 75,000 from this year.

    This year's unemployment rate for new graduates is expected to be 25 percent. This is a leap of 13.8% compared to last year. Six months after they graduated, 189,543 out of 330,557 graduates managed to get a job last year.

    With these facts and information, it is not hard to agree on that the global recession and the pandemic makes unemployment rate rose pretty quick.

Part 2: Job opportunities insufficient or graduates are being picky?

    Both, less or more. First, are the graduates are being picky? According to JobStreet.com, one the few reasons of fresh grads unemployment is because the graduates are asking for unrealistic salary/benefits. Is it true? Mainly not but possible. EPF is releases Belanjawanku, an expenditure guide for Malaysians.

    Above infographics shows the how much single people needs to sustain and their lives and healthiness. So, let's take single (public transport user) as benchmark for fresh grads, RM1,870. Now, let's look how much of wages are provided to fresh graduates. The Khazanah Institute Research data show actual monthly income (mean value) of RM1,846 for young workers and reservation wage of RM1,715 for young job seekers.

    If you taking account how much the income and the expenditure, it is not hard to understand why fresh grads are being picky and running away from 'job opportunities'. We barely meet the overall expenditure and far from owning a car. Yet the same data suggesting that fresh grads are prepared to accept earnings below their reservation so that they have jobs. We can conclude, fresh grads are doing their best for their own sake.

    Now, job opportunities. Yes. Job opportunities are insufficient in the job market. Nothing to differ here. In 2017, it was reported that Malaysia had recorded a dismal number of job opportunities created in the last four years. Since 2013, some 672,000 jobs were offered only in the low and lower-middle income range.

    According to Bank Negara Malaysia, between 2010 and 2017, there were about 172,000 fresh graduates entering the workforce but at the same period only 99,000 high-skilled jobs that required tertiary education were created. Quick maths, that means every one graduate, only 0.57 jobs created that required diploma or degree. So, yeah it is largely because of this.

Part 3: Can will blame the mismatch of skills?

    Yes. Reported in 2017, an Australian recruitment company has urged today’s youth to constantly develop new skill sets to cater to the growing demand of industries. “Skill sets such as digital marketing and product management did not exist 10 years ago. But they have become some of the most sought-after skills in the market now,” chief commercial officer Martin Hayden said on the sidelines of the Jobstreet HR Networking 2017 event.

    But that was in 2017, how about now? Graduates are getting better. In 2018, Khazanah Institute Research reported the majority of employers surveyed in their studies indicated that they do not face challenges recruiting the kinds of employees they currently need. The shortcoming is not in terms of numbers, but there is an apparent mismatch. 

    But the survey also found that young people themselves recognise that academic qualifications are inadequate and acknowledge that they lack the soft skills and work experience that are necessary for getting a good job. Is it true?

    According to The Global Competitiveness Report 2018 by World Economic Forum, which is a report that include comparisons of different aspects among 140 countries, Malaysia's skillsets of graduates at the rank of 6 out of 140 countries. Not only that, digital skills at rank 11 and ease of finding skilled employees at rank 4. Literally, what young people expect is not really what they seem. Malaysia has one of the best set of graduates out of all the countries. 

    But still Malaysian education has an apparent mismatch of skills. A research by British Council, Malaysia education focused more on quantitative instead of qualitative output. So many soft skills are not being polished throughout their studies. These soft skills like language and critical thinking are the one that made a person employable.

Part 4: SDG + Conclusion + Hopes

    In Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 8 is decent work and economic growth. One of the target is promote youth employment, education and training. The question is, are we meeting the goal? Not really. As the facts and comparisons above, we are declining. We are getting there but it will take more time. This current pandemic has taken a toll to everyone including the Goals. But we must persevered and have high hopes for the future. 

    I would like to give a piece of advice to myself and my friends. Don't take study years for granted. I would like to encourage everyone to master as many skills a possible and to polish our soft skills and make sure that we are stand out from the crowd. We are not the one to be blamed but we can't do much except we must be diligent in improving our values.

    For the government, please reconstruct our education and workforce systems. Young people already struggled and we hope in the future this will get better. Please create more jobs that match the education qualification that are provided in education industry.

    With that I hope this entry will open the readers' eyes and give encouragement to the youngsters, not to blame them. Assalamualaikum and thanks for reading.

References (in no specific order) :

200,000 Malaysians Graduates are unemployed | Newsflash - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYZC0TwIEX4&feature=youtu.be

Orang miskin tak malas malah kerja lebih masa, kata pakar ekonomi - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6fQ_PykhhA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=THEMALAYSIANINSIGHT

M'sian youth prepared to accept wages below reservation income, says Khazanah Research | The Edge Markets: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/msian-youth-prepared-accept-wages-below-reservation-income-says-khazanah-research

The School-to-Work Transition of Young Malaysians: http://www.krinstitute.org/assets/contentMS/img/template/editor/20181212_SWTS%20Presentation%20DR%20LIM%20.pdf

EPF Launches 'Belanjawanku', an Expenditure Guide: https://www.ajobthing.com/blog/epf-launches-belanjawanku-an-expenditure-guide-for-singles-families

THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION OF YOUNG MALAYSIANS: http://www.krinstitute.org/assets/contentMS/img/template/editor/20181205_SWTS_Main%20Book.pdf

The Global Competitiveness Report 2018: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2018/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2018.pdf

Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic: In Brief: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R46554.pdf

Fresh Graduate Unemployment in Malaysia - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6VM15kN0Zg&ab_channel=MLStudios

‘Fresh grads need to evolve with the market’ | Free Malaysia Today: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/08/17/fresh-grads-need-to-evolve-with-the-market/

JobStreet.com Fresh Graduate Report 2018: https://www.jobstreet.com.my/announcement/FTP/FACT-SHEET_Fresh-Graduate-Survey-2018.pdf

Data needed to see why 200,000 graduates are jobless | The Star: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/10/13/data-needed-to-see-why-200000-graduates-are-jobless

Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | The Global Goals: https://www.globalgoals.org/8-decent-work-and-economic-growth#:~:text=Full%20Employment%20and%20Decent%20Work,for%20work%20of%20equal%20value