Unemployment Among Recent Graduates

By Melissa Norman, Founder and Managing Director, Aisling Group

According to the Graduates Statistics 2020 published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia
(DOSM), there were 5.36 million graduates in 2020, an increase of 4.4 percent from 2019 (5.13
million). 202,400 of them, or 4.4 percent, were unemployed, which is an increase from 165,200
(3.9 percent) in 2019.

Nevertheless, many recent graduates are still struggling to find full-time employment.

According to the graduate tracer study conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education, the
marketability of Malaysian graduates in 2020 dropped by 1.8 percent to 84.4 percent compared to
86.2 percent in 2019. This was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a recent article, Utusan Malaysia and the Malay Mail discussed this phenomenon, with some of
the interviewed respondents citing an inability to find opportunities that suit their chosen field of
study and job compatibility issues. Often, these factors lead graduates to settle for part-time jobs,
gig jobs, and even positions that aren’t suited to their qualifications, and sometimes with low pay.

In other words, there is a huge mismatch between the job market and the skills needed.

On 25th May this year, the Ministry of Higher Education has announced five initiatives aimed at
addressing the declining marketability of graduates during the Covid-19 pandemic period,
including the KPT-Career Advancement Programme (KPT-CAP), Teaching Factory Programme,
TVET Transformation Programme, flexible and micro-credential programmes, as well as mobility
programmes.

All of these are good starting points, but the implementation remains the key to their effectiveness.

Additionally, it is necessary to re-examine and future-proof the courses and syllabus in universities,
focusing not only on the demands of today’s job market, but also ten or even twenty years from now,
especially with the growing demand for digital and technical talents. Otherwise, we risk losing our
talent as they migrate to other places for better opportunities. We cannot afford to waste more time
and risk being left behind in the race as we work to develop the economy of the country.
Malaysians struggle to make ends meet even
as unemployment rate dips
SELANGOR - Physics graduate Ahmad Imran Amsyar gets ready at 5am daily to go to work.
But instead of going to an office, he heads to the same traffic light in Seksyen 13 Shah Alam,
Selangor, where he peddles food to motorists there.

Mr Imran, 25, said he parks his mother’s car by the roadside as early as 7am to set up and
walk straight to the middle of the road when the light is red, hawking pre-packed nasi lemak
and pickled fruits.

“I graduated in 2020 during the pandemic. I was desperate to earn some money after
graduation because our family wasn’t doing well as my mother was laid off. So I came up with
this idea of peddling food at traffic lights,” he told The Straits Times.

“But two years on, I’m still stuck doing the same thing because I couldn’t secure a job in the
field that I studied in,” he said.

“At the same time, I only have two options – to come up with whatever on my own, so I can
earn some money to survive, or continue looking without knowing if I’d l ever land a job in my
field. This is me just trying to do whatever it takes to survive.”

Mr Imran is one of many Malaysians who have turned to selling food and drinks or proffering
myriad services to make a living.

The unemployment rate dipped from 3.7 per cent in August to 3.6 per cent in September,
maintaining at that level in October, according to government data.

The unemployment rate in October 2021 was 4.3 per cent, the lowest reading at the time since
February 2020.The number of unemployed dropped 14.2 per cent in October from a year
earlier to 605,000, while employment increased 3.4 per cent to 16.08 million.But the
downward trend in unemployment could be due to more desperate people settling for any
available job in order to make ends meet.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress deputy president Mohd Effendy Abdul Ghani noted: “There
are so many factors why we’re seeing the unemployment rate going down, but more people
working in the streets.

“Some are not considered unemployed, because technically they’re not jobless. But they’re
doing all sorts of random work to generate some income just to get by. Some stray from their
respective fields because the pay is too low,” he told ST.

A recent study found that Malaysians are at their worst financial position in 2022 during the
past five years, with dwindling savings making it harder for them to deal with a looming
recession.

A recent survey by Malaysian financial services website RinggitPlus revealed that 70 per cent
of Malaysians saved less than RM500 (S$153) per month in 2022, or did not save at all.
Mass communications graduate Nurul Hidayah Yassin, 24, said: “It’s just impossible to save
now. Sometimes, I manage to save RM200 and then there’s an emergency, I’m back to square
one.

“Which is why I recently started offering a new service. Since more concerts are taking place
in the country, I decided to offer my ‘ticketing service’ as I’m pretty good at securing tickets
online.”

“Depending on the popularity of the act, I charge between RM20 and RM30 per ticket for my
service. I managed to make slightly above RM1,000 from my ticketing services when Korean
multi-genre group Dream Perfect Regime and Chinese singer Jackson Wang came to
Malaysia. It’s not much, but at least something for me,” she added.
Over 40,000 jobless grads in Malaysia as of
2021, Dewan Rakyat told
KUALA LUMPUR: There were 41,467 unemployed graduates in the country as of 2021, says Datuk Seri Mohamed

Khaled Nordin.

The Higher Education Minister said the figure, from the Graduate Tracking Study System, makes up 14.5% of the

total of 286,299 local graduates who completed their courses that year.

"To address the issue of unemployment among graduates, the ministry has introduced continuous initiatives to

ensure all of them are equipped with talents and skills," he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Feb 270.

Replying to Jamaludin Yahya (PN-Pasir Salak), who asked for unemployment statistics among local graduates and

steps taken to address the issue, he said the curriculum would be reviewed at three- and five-year intervals to ensure

local graduates are employable.

He also said job matching for graduates was being done through a collaboration with the Social Security

Organisation (Socso) to see that graduates get jobs compatible with their qualifications.

"These initiatives are implemented through the MYFutureJobs portal or career carnival organised by public higher

learning institutions and Socso," he added.

Aside from that, he said the ministry also conducted training and self-improvement such as a marketability

programme for graduates.

Include graduate unemployment
in budget retabling
Graduate employability has remained a perennial issue over the past few years, with countless numbers
of graduates struggling to find suitable jobs upon completing their studies. This situation not only
compromises the fate of our future talents but also puts our country’s growth at risk, economically and
socially.

Weak graduate marketability in Malaysia has resulted in youth unemployment and a lack of high-skilled
workers to fulfil the needs and demands of the future workforce.

The graduate statistics as reported by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed the
highest percentage of unemployed graduates in 2020, to 4.4% (202,400 graduates unemployed) against
2019 when the rate of unemployment stood at 3.9% (165,200).

Despite several initiatives such as JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia which saw an allocation of RM4.8
billion, Penjana HRD Corp (RM500 million in allocation from 2020 to 2021) and Malaysians@Work
(RM6.5 billion) to reduce the number of unemployed graduates, the employability rate remains
relatively high while the number of vacancies is still low.

Graduates have been left with no choice but to work for the minimum wage or at non-graduate jobs in
order to survive the high cost of living and make ends meet. This situation not only adds to the context of
underemployment, it also contributes to the neglect of talents from a future high-skilled workforce that
would benefit the economy as well as Malaysia's social trajectory.

Despite the expected drop in unemployment rate in 2023 from 3.7% to 3.5%, the economic report by the
finance ministry discloses that the forecast only reflects a small-margin reduction, with more attention
from the government needed to ease the problem of graduate unemployment. The proliferation in the
number of graduates does not tally with the number that the job market can absorb, which makes it hard
for them to find a job.

The government should look at ways to create new job opportunities, but these opportunities must not
be taken lightly. The graduates must be offered jobs that will create value and long-term worth that
contributes to the youth and national developments.

Maybe it is time for the relevant authorities to take another look at the delivery system of higher learning
institutions or universities in the country. They should prepare undergraduates for the reality of what
the job market is looking for instead of focusing on paper qualifications, to ease the problem of
mismatched graduates who have to job hop from one company to another or who may not find
employment at all.

The youth and sports and human resources ministries should be more proactive and embark on more
effective approaches and measures to enhance graduate marketability.

The emergence of the k-economy has spawned a new notion of workplace literacy, changing the
traditional covenant where employees expect stable or lifelong employment. The retention of employees
will probably be based on skills and knowledge that can provide advantages to companies.

The establishment of the Knowledge Economy Division in the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime
Minister’s Department signifies the need to support the growth of conducive economic development
through ICT development with the purpose of transforming Malaysia into an innovative, digital
knowledge-based economy. Platforms such as technical and vocational education and training (TVET)
can be further explored.

The higher education ministry recently announced new aspirations through 11 focuses including the
rearrangement of the national TVET. This is a good sign that can push the potentiality of TVET in
training and producing high-skilled graduates with high marketability.
However, having platforms like TVET to nurture our future talents might be insufficient if the
government fails to bridge the gap in so far as cooperation with the private sector is concerned. It must
work hand in hand with private companies, especially key industry players and investors, to produce
better job placements.

Public and private organizations should be encouraged to set up programmes to employ potential fresh
graduates as part of their corporate social responsibility. This helps to inject new blood for new ideas
and a younger, capable workforce for key job continuity.

Maybe it is time for the government to revisit the strategic thrusts in the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030
(SPV2030), which serves as a blueprint of its commitment to making this country a nation that achieves
sustainable growth alongside equitable distribution. Maybe there are viable recommendations in the
blueprint that can be beneficial, especially in tackling the issues of unemployment and
underemployment.

The third strategic thrust of SPV2030, "Transforming Human Capital", mentions a focus on the need to
enhance Malaysia’s workforce. It also highlights the importance of recognising human capital through
professional training and skills retraining at every level, from school to the work environment, to bridge
the gaps between the knowledge, skills and attitudes of graduates with industrial needs and demands.

This pillar outlines several suggestions such as strengthening partnerships with industry players,
improving quality control mechanisms and cultivating students’ interest towards future job prospects
that will lead to a more skilled workforce, produced and directed towards high national productivity.

Hopefully, the issues of graduate unemployment and underemployment will be included and given focus
during the retabling of this year’s budget.Decades ago, a university degree meant a guaranteed path to a
well-paid and stable career. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. The missing link between the
production of graduates and their absorption into the labour market must be found for the good of all.