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60,000 Malaysian graduates unemployed
A government survey in Malaysia finds most graduates unemployed are Malays with poor English language skills, irrelevant degrees.


Source: New Straits Times

Nearly 60,000 Malaysian graduates are unemployed, a government survey has revealed.

It also confirmed what has long been known: Most of the unemployed are Malays from lower-income families who lack command of the English language. Also, their qualifications are mostly not in demand.

These results emerged recently from a project initiated by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, where the unemployed were asked to sign up for jobs.

The project was initiated to gauge the extent of the problem and to enable the government to fine-tune its job creation policies.

As many as 59,250 graduates signed up, a New Straits Times report said.

Many of the participants were Malays with degrees in business studies or information technology from public universities, where courses are taught in Malay.

Earlier estimates had put the number of jobless in the country at between 18,000 and 82,000.

The latest results also showed that 71 percent of the unemployed were female, 61 percent were from poor families, and 80 percent were educated with government loans from the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN).


Those surveyed cited the lack of job experience, poor command of the English language with inadequate communication skills, and the possession of qualifications that are not relevant to the job market as reasons for not being able to find suitable employment.

"Most have been jobless for more than a year," Malaysia's Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn was quoted as saying.

The results have led to some introspection. There are concerns that there could be many more degree-holders on the list of 400,000 individuals who are currently unemployed.

The results of the survey will also likely give a boost to the government's ongoing efforts to promote English usage in schools and to encourage Malays to take up relevant degree courses.

"We have highly qualified graduates coming here who cannot construct a proper sentence in English. They lack confidence and it is not difficult to imagine why they are jobless," Geraldine Fernandes, the operator of a private college, told The Straits Times.

Over the past two years, colleges and schools like the one run by her have been helping to retrain unemployed graduates to make them more marketable.

The Human Resources Ministry had spent up to RM100 million (about C$31.3 million) during the past few years on such programs.

A recent survey found that Universiti Malaya, the country's premier university, has slipped in the rankings. From being among the top 100 universities in the world, it is now ranked below 150.

The government has taken steps to address falling standards in universities and schools, by gradually re-introducing the use of English in schools. The language is now being used to teach science and mathematics in primary schools.

Eventually, English could replace Malay as the language of instruction for these two subjects, right up to tertiary level.

Unemployed Graduates: How can We Address this Situation? Nor Hartini Bt. Saari
Pegawai Penyelidik

27/12/2007 | Artikel Bahasa Inggeris
Unemployed graduates have become among the worlds major concerns lately. Why are there so many graduates unemployed? And what factors lead to unemployed graduates?
Researchers have voiced that higher education institutions, the job market and the needs of the labor market for graduates are different in comparison to twenty years ago. The labor market is now less predictably changing is more rapidly and is more competitive. As a result, some graduates face difficulties in finding jobs.
According to the findings of a Graduate Tracer Study in 2006, 30.7% of graduates remained unemployed six months after convocation, while 5.7% were still awaiting job placement. The study involved 132 900 graduates from 18 public universities, 18 polytechnics, 34 community colleges and 13 private institutions of higher learning from all over Malaysia. (New Strait Times, 2007)
Many factors have been identified as being the causes for the increase in the unemployment rate among university graduates. Having straight ‘As' is no longer enough to secure a job or to give one a competitive edge in career advancement.
According to the Minister of Human Resources, more than 65% of female graduates in this country are employed because they lack social and communication skills in addition to a poor command of language and low levels of self confidence. He added that many female graduates had achieved excellent academic results but could not secure employment without the relevant skills required in the labor market. The number of unemployed female graduates is also much higher in comparison male graduates (The Star, 2005).
How to solve this problem? There are many graduates, but they lack skills and experience. Generally, there is a trend that most organizations prefer to recruit those with experience. The work environment now requires graduates to have some work experience in addition to the requirement of graduation to ensure that employers sustain their economic competitiveness.
In the current labor market, graduates not only need to compete among themselves, but also with other less educated candidates with years of work experiences. As a result, a fresh graduate's chance of employment is becoming a growing problem.
It has been assumed that the lack of experience and skills are the causes leading to the unemployment of graduate's. In Malaysia, the private sector today is not interested in recruiting local graduates because they lack several important skills, such as the capacity to communicate well in English, a lack of ICT proficiency, and a lack of interpersonal skills. This scenario reveals that, there is a skills gap between what skills are required by employers and what skills graduates have.
In order to remedy the situation, the Malaysian government has implemented several steps in order to reduce the number of unemployed graduates.
The Ministry Of Human Resources, through their industry training institute has introduced a programmed referred to as ‘unemployed graduates training scheme' in order to equip fresh graduates with certain skills and experience. They have allocated roughly RM 500 million towards the scheme. However, according to the Minister, only 1400 graduates have been employed after participating in the aforementioned training scheme.
Suitable degree programs are not the only mechanisms for developing work skills in higher education. Students are encouraged to take part in extra curricular activities which may assist them in developing soft skills. It is important for a student to begin accumulating as much work related experience (soft skills) as early as they can.
Soft skills are generally categorized into three areas; character, interpersonal skill and critical and creative thinking. These skills enable one to communicate effectively, manage relationships, lead a team, and solve problems. Soft skill development should be inculcated into the education syllabus. It is important to teach soft skills required to survive and succeed in the work market.
Lecturers, being the closest people to students, should continuously encourage them to gain work experience and soft skills on campus and off campus. Most of the students seem unaware of the importance of work experience. In order to assist students, a lecturer may use several approaches to enhance their skills and knowledge; for example to stimulate the minds of students with discussions and case studies.
This approach may help students integrate their knowledge and skills with real cases. Apart from that, the lecturer may also allow students to interact with outsiders or to organize social activities.
This will forced student to go out and exposed themselves to the outside world and conduct research as partial fulfillment for their degree programs. The process in preparing research involves skill and knowledge.
However, in order for this happen, the Higher Education Ministry must ensure that the tertiary education system is relevant to the current scenario. It should have a dedicated department or taskforce which can monitor the learning environment in the universities that can influence the development of a student.
In addition, the Ministry should continually evaluate programs or courses offered in order to help higher institution produce quality graduate's who are attractive and productive to the competitive labor market.