116,000 Malaysian Fresh Graduates Without A Job in 2020 – Choose a Course with Job Demand

High Jobless Rate in Malaysia Amongst Graduates

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Malaysia’s 21 public-sector universities and 38 private-sector universities produce something like 51,000 graduates a year, but nearly 60% remain unemployed one year after graduation, according to a study in 2018 conducted by the Minstry of Education Malaysia’s Graduate Tracer Study.

The unemployment rate among fresh graduates is expected to increase to 25% in 2020. In comparison to last year, it is a jump from 13.8%.

The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) said 75,000 out of 300,000 fresh graduates are expected to be unemployed in 2020 due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, 41,161 out of 330,557 graduates from 2019 are still unemployed. With the addition of 75,000 from 2020, the total unemployment among the group will add up to a whopping 116,161 people.

Last year, 189,543 out of 330,557 graduates managed to get a job six months after they graduated.

High youth unemployment rate in Malaysia

The youth unemployment in Malaysia is at 13.2%. The highest unemployment rate is seen among those aged 15 to 19, at 18.7%, followed by those aged 20 to 24, at 11.9%, according to the Economic Outlook Report 2019 issued by the finance ministry.

This comes as the 2017 graduate unemployment stood at 9.6%, on a higher graduate unemployment, constituting 40.5% of unemployment at the time.

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Malaysia’s Jobless Increases to 772,900

Malaysia’s unemployment rate rose to 4.9% in January compared with 4.8% in December as the number of unemployed persons rose to 782,500 from 772,900.

Chief Statistician of Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour market remained in a challenging situation following the rising number of Covid-19 cases and the implementation of a second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0).

March 2020 Records Over 600,000 Malaysians Left Unemployed Due To MCO

After the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced in March, Malaysia’s unemployment rate saw a sharp 0.6% increase in comparison to February 2020.

The unemployment rate in Malaysia has reached a 10-year high, with over 600,000 individuals losing their jobs in March 2020

The data was released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in its Labour Force Statistics, Malaysia, March 2020 report on May 8, 2020.

The report noted that the current unemployment rate as of March 2020 stood at 3.9%, the highest since June 2010 (3.6%).

In comparison to the same period last year, March 2020 accounted for 610,500 unemployed Malaysians, while March 2019 recorded 521,300 – a whopping 17% increase.

“Unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) in March 2020 also increased to 3.9% as compared to 3.3% in the previous month,” said the report.

The DOSM attributed the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) to the devastating increase of Malaysians losing their jobs

It cited employers and self-employed individuals were the worst-hit group, which made up 2.81 million out of the 15.84-million strong labour force in Malaysia.

The group consisted of freelancers and traders, who worked in industries such as farmer markets, night markets, and caterings.

“These group of workers were exposed to the risk of unemployment and work losses that affect their income during the MCO, partly due [to being] unable to work,” said the DOSM.

The MCO was enforced on 18 March as part of the nationwide social distancing measure to curb COVID-19. All businesses that were not deemed essential services were told to shut down during the period.

High Unemployment Rate in Malaysian Graduates

The unemployment rate among fresh graduates is expected to increase to 25% this year, 2020. In comparison to last year, it is a jump from 13.8%. The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) said 75,000 out of 300,000 fresh graduates are expected to be unemployed in 2020 due to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, 41,161 out of 330,557 graduates from 2019 are still unemployed. With the addition of 75,000 from 2020, the total unemployment among the group will add up to a whopping 116,161 people.

Last year, 189,543 out of 330,557 graduates managed to get a job six months after they graduated.

The youth unemployment in Malaysia is at 13.2%. The highest unemployment rate is seen among those aged 15 to 19, at 18.7%, followed by those aged 20 to 24, at 11.9%, according to the Economic Outlook Report 2019 issued by the finance ministry.

Data collected through the Ministry of Education Malaysia’s Graduate Tracer Study (SKPG) – Graduate Detection Survey System in 2018 found that nearly 60% of graduates who had completed their first degree and above were unemployed after one year of graduation. “The number of graduates who have not been employed after one year of graduation for the First Degree holders and above is 30,765 persons or 59.9% of the 51,365 graduates,”

Graduates being left behind, possess outdated information and lacking in relevant skills required by the industry, thus contributing to the rising unemployment rate. World Bank comparative youth unemployment puts Malaysia as the second highest to Indonesia in the region. With the hidden unemployment segments added in, Malaysian youth unemployment is probably more like 15-18 percent.

The prime reason for graduate youth unemployment is the mismatch of graduate qualifications with the country’s workforce needs. Of 1.47 million vacancies, 86.9 percent are for low skilled jobs. Only 4.7 percent of those advertised required any tertiary qualifications. Graduate unemployment was 9.6 percent or 204,000 at the end of 2018.

The youth unemployment rate in Malaysia, at 10.9 percent officially, is more than triple the national rate of 3.3 percent and has been gradually rising over the past decade. Unemployed youth make up almost 60 percent of the 504,000 currently unemployed.

The Ministry of Education decides what courses universities offer rather than market forces. This is where the mismatches are coming from. Malaysian universities are currently overcapacity and producing too many graduates to what can be generally absorbed into domestic Malaysian workforce.

A Job Street survey found the 58 percent are choosy about what job they do or company they work for, 58 percent are considered of poor character, attitude or personality, 52 percent have a poor command of English, 49 percent have poor communication skills, and 66 percent have unrealistic salary expectations.

In light of the high graduate unemployment rate, Malaysian secondary school students need to do their research or ask knowledgeable and experienced counselors who would know what the future job demand is like for their courses of interest. Then, you are able to make the right choice and not end up unemployed like the rest.

Good Command of the English Language Increases Your Employability

In a research, commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Family and Community Development, it was found that there was very little variation in CGPA between employed and unemployed graduates. This explains why the overall academic performance did not affect the chance of becoming employed graduates. On the other hand, graduates who had higher English proficiencies were employed compared to unemployed graduates.

The study showed that having good grades did not guarantee employment for Malaysian graduates. The
graduates must have a good command of English and other soft skills such as analytical thinking, intelligence, independence, leadership, communication and computer skills and work experience.

The results showed that the chance of being employed rose with an increase in English proficiency. The only significant personality variable is leadership and technical skills and this variable consisted of constructs such as possessing analytical thinking, being intelligent, independent, having leadership skills, communication and computer skills and possessing work experience.

Most of these challenges are more pronounced for graduates who come from rural areas because they
are less exposed to speaking in English and almost all of them study in the public universities where Bahasa Malaysia is used as the medium of instruction.

In another study by the Ministry of Higher Education on the National Graduate Employability, Prospective employers complain of fresh Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) graduates lacking the  prerequisite attributes; more than 50% of fresh graduates are deemed to be unsatisfactory in English  communication skills, and yet, many of these young, inexperienced job-seekers expect unrealistically high starting salaries.

Currently, deficiencies are seen in the areas of communication, ICT knowledge, and professional and technical skills which have resulted in an insufficient supply of employable graduates. This situation is further aggravated by university students not pursuing fields of study that are relevant to industry

“Every year about 180,000 students graduate with diplomas and degrees from institutions of higher learning.

The most common problems identified by employers are poor command of English (55.8%), poor character, attitude or personality (37.4%), asking for unrealistic salary/benefits (33%), mismatch of skills (30.2%), choosy in job/company (27.7%), no demonstrated ability to solve problems (25.9%) and skill knowledge not indepth enough (23.8%). As the main demand of industry is to employ graduates who are GSA (Generic Student Attribute) centred, from the graph above it is obvious that these skills are lacking among fresh graduates.

Malaysian industries are currently emphasising a set of skills that the graduates should have when they apply for a job, which are divided into two separate categories comprising hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are defined as the mastery and practice of a body of knowledge whereas soft skills are the development of largely inter- and intra-personal skills.

There are several hard skills and soft skills that have been highlighted, which should be incorporated into the IHL curriculum to increase the graduate employability and employment rate. Some hard skills include
provision of temporary/vacation work, literacy, time management, research skills, computer skills, help to secure work placement and internship, contacts with employers, CV writing, providing help in job search, career fairs, and job searching techniques.

Correspondingly, some of the soft skills are team working skills, presentation skills, decision making skills,
communication skills, understanding of career area, interview practice, and career identification and planning.

Important to Choose the Right Course so that You Will Not Be Unemployed after Graduation

Choosing the right course to study after SPM or O-Levels is just the first step in the right direction of achieving a life with stable or high income. Some students have known what they wanted to be since they were young while others are no sure, even after completing their SPM & O-Levels.

Furthermore, one of the main aims of getting a university education in Malaysia is to find a stable job so that you can take care of yourself and your family. However, nowadays, with the high cost of living, just finding any job will not do. You will need to find a job that has a high salary.

With the high youth unemployment rate in Malaysia, it is important to choose your course wisely. If you don’t plan carefully, you may end up studying a course that has no job demand after you graduate. This would be an incredible waste of your time and money.

To find out more on how to choose the right course, click on this link.

How to Prepare Yourself During University to Make Sure that You are not Jobless When You Graduate

The best time to start on your future career is now. If you wait until after graduation, it will be too late as you won’t have time. After work, you will be tired and have other personal activities as well. It will take a lot of discipline to balance your work life. Therefore, the best time is to prepare yourself while you are at university. Here are some tips:

• Join clubs and societies
• Participate in on-campus activities like going for talks, events, trips, etc.
• Mix around with the international students on campus and learn about their culture. It is great for networking and future opportunities
• Learn how to communicate, lead, and how to work in a team.
• Learn how to organise events and manage your time.
• Immerse yourself in internships; be seen and heard in your team. It is important for Malaysian university students to get the right type of internships so that they were employable after their graduation.
• Use online time to update yourself with news, training, new tech, concepts and trends. Educational and visionary YouTube or podcasts inspire intelligent questions and will prepare you for interviews with future employers and engagement with colleagues.

How to Overcome the Challenge of Unemployment by Choosing the Right Course to Study?

Economists have warned that the jobs lost during the pandemic and its subsequent economic crisis will not come back easily. Demand may be slow to come back and employers may not hire immediately. Furthermore, in the age of IR4.0 digitalisation will have an impact on net job creation.

Through your experience in the MCO, you can see that there would be more demand for digital ecosystems in both the public and private sectors — contactless systems, online meetings, remote services and mobile payments. Increased opportunities for Financial Technology, Online marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing,

New graduates, diploma holders and others will enter into the market each year, hence, there will be a lot of competition for the same jobs when you yourself graduate.

Therefore, in order to succeed in your future career, you must have a clear plan and choose the right course that will have future job demand. In addition, the skillsets gained in your university studies must be relevant.

When choosing the right course to study in Malaysia, one important criteria that students should look at is the job demand. Choosing to study a course that has future potential high job demand and salary would ensure that you have a higher chance of a successful career that would support your lifestyle goals.

With the evolution of technology, the current job landscape in Malaysia has changed drastically. In many industries and countries, the current in-demand occupations or specialties did not exist 10 or even 5 years ago. The rise of technology has led to a disruption in the way we work and live. The Digital Era has changed the way we work.

As the digital economy grows, Malaysia must be prepared to choose jobs that will be in demand in the future as well as still exist. 75 million job roles are expected to disappear by 2022 according to the “Future of Jobs Report 2018” by the World Economic Forum,. Furthermore, another 133 million roles are expected to emerge.

To find out which are the best courses to study in Malaysia that has future job demand, click on the link below:

Top 20 Courses to Study in Malaysia that has High Job Demand & Stable Salary