Current Employment Trend Able to Reduce Graduate Unemployment

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 17:58


Current Employment Trend Able to Reduce Graduate Unemployment

KUALA LUMPUR, 29 JUNE, 2010: The current trend of hiring candidates based on their productivity and compatibility can help to overcome unemployment among graduates, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S.Subramaniam said the reason for graduate unemployment was because of the low demand for graduates from certain fields of studies.

"This can be overcome because the current employment trend is not just based on a graduate's field of study," he said during a question and answer session at a Dewan Rakyat, here today.

He was responding to a question from William Leong Jee Keen (PKR-Selayang) who wanted to know the total number of unemployed graduates and why they were jobless.

Subramaniam said according to statistics from the Higher Education Ministry, 30,000 graduates remained jobless six months after graduation.

He said to increase their employability, the ministry, through the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad, had implemented the Graduate Employability Programme giving graduates added value through information technology needed in high-end services.

"This year 1,000 graduates will be trained under this scheme," he said.

Besides that, Subramaniam said various programmes would be held under other ministries including the Industrial Scheme Enhancement Programme by the Finance Ministry, the Graduate Employability Management Scheme (GEMS) by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Business Process Outsourcing Programme and SME-University Internship Programme coordinated by the Higher Education Ministry.

New special training scheme for fresh and unemployed graduates

Submitted by Najiah on Saturday, July 17th, 2010

• Local

• scheme-graduates

Bernama

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 14:30:00

SEGAMAT: The government today launched a special training scheme to equip fresh and unemployed graduates with skills required by the industries in a move to realise the New Economic Model’s (NEM) aim of making Malaysia a high-income nation.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S.Subramaniam said under the scheme called Graduate Employability Program (GEP), the graduates would not only enhance their chances of employability but also become more innovative and creative in line with the NEM.

The minister said RM10.5 million had been allocated for the GEP and it would be managed by Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad (PSMB) under the ministry.

“The GEP’s aim is to increase the skills and competencies of graduates to prepare them for the job market with higher salaries and to assist the less fortunate graduates who cannot find employment due to lack of skills,” he said when launching the GEP here.

When unveiling the NEM last March, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said it would make Malaysia more competitive regionally and globally with benefits accruing to all Malaysians, with their per capita income increasing to US$15,000 by the end of the decade from US$7,000 currently.

Najib had said that creating a high-income nation would mean higher wages throughout the economy as growth was derived not only from capital, but from greater productivity through the use of skills and innovation, improved coordination, stronger branding and compliance with international standards and intellectual property rights.

Dr Subramaniam, who is also the Segamat Member of Parliament, said the GEP would equip, develop and assist unemployed graduates through six key skills namely, ICT; competencies; transferable skills which include communication, analytical thinking and problem-solving; relevant working experience; exploring new route for their career; and job placement.

He said the target group would be diploma and degree holders who had been unemployed for at least three months after graduation.

“We will select the first batch of 1,000 graduates for this program and they will undergo training between five and six months,” the minister said.

He said the training would include three components - classroom training; attachment; and job placement.

“The attachment component provides hands-on learning environment and because of on-the-job experience, it makes its easier for trainees to apply what has been learnt in the classroom to where they are attached to,” he said.

He said the government would bear the course fee for the graduates who would also be paid a monthly allowance of RM500 during the training.

He said on completion of the GEP, the trainees would secure employment almost immediately.

Dr. Subramaniam said to enlist, graduates could download application forms at www.hrdf.com.my or send their applications to PSMB. 

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2010

Five reasons why graduates are unemployed

Posted by: LionGIrl

Five reasons why graduates are unemployed

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/27/nation/20100227211559&sec=nation

“Lack of industrial training and poor English are among five factors why graduates are unemployed, according to a study conducted by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

Other factors are low problem-solving skills, job-hopping and lack of self-confidence, said Higher Education Ministry student development and affairs director Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Ramlan.”

If we can recognise the problems, we should go back to the roots of the problems. First of all why is poor English among the five factors? If I am not mistaken English language is one of the compulsory subjects in our education system. How can someone reach university without passing the subject? And what are poor communication skills in English? What does it mean they should improve their command of the language? Is it poor as in writing or poor as in understanding and conversing or all of them? If this is really happening, we are really ashamed of our Malaysian education system!

To me the next two factors which should have been addressed by our education system are inducing self confidence and problem-solving skills in its extra curriculum activities. Again, what does it mean by lack of self-confidence? Is it the personality or character of the graduates or is it confidence in the job function? And is problem-solving skills relating to the job function also? To me, anything that is job related should be trained on the job and should not be a factor of why graduates are unemployed!

As for lack of industrial training, I would suggest for the related parties to understand who should provide industrial training. If the graduates have to get themselves trained, is there a place where they will be given such training. Where can they get information about what training is needed for what type of job and how are they being supported for the said training. Or should such training be given on the job?

Lastly, job-hopping (to me) is a personal decision. If I am a graduate and I am not sure of what is right for me as far as job or profession is concerned, I would choose to venture into any job I could get my hands on first and try it out before deciding that it is right for me. If that is considered job-hopping, I would say the graduates have the right to make such decision. And this factor, to me, should not be a factor for graduates to be unemployed too unless they are not smart enough to find a new job first before leaving the existing job. This decision making, I feel, should be part of career guidance provided by the higher education department. They should help to prepare the graduates to the working world, mentally and emotionally even if they are not able to provide the said jobs physically.

"They have themselves to blame if they fail to convince employers on their potential," he said when closing a two-day graduate etiquette programme at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu here Saturday.

He said graduates should also avoid being choosy about jobs and shrug off bad attitude of preferring to work in ones' hometown. -

I really do not understand how our Higher Education Ministry student development and affairs director Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Ramlan could blame the graduates for not able to convince employers on their potential, about being choosy and about their bad attitude of preferring to work in one’s hometown. I would say that it is not a fair statement to make! All these preparation and right attitudes in job interviews and job seeking should be included in the career guidance suggested earlier.

And just the other day, we have the headline of Scores of Sabah youths living like beggars in KL after losing jobs http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/25/nation/5715707&sec=nation

How’s that for leaving one’s hometown for a job?

Comments

I remember long time ago, an local artist arrived late for a dialogue over Radio.

The which she replied, 'on-air' "I was late because the mutton was crossing the road"

By Alitstar, 28-Feb-2010

majority of them think that national language is great and the only sole language to go around , that's why they don't bother to take any serious effort to improve their English while the other reason is to blame on our policy makers who make our nation what we are today. the other reason is majority of the graduates do not have with them the type of commercial or industrial skills or thinking as they have concentrated their studies more on religious studies , religious history , religious administrations and all what not related to religion that cannot be used in the industry nor commercial sectors , they are good only in the gomen administrations. I have interviewed many like this before. - AnSoN

By asneoh, 28-Feb-2010

I don't know what would be your opinion of this issue but don't you ever think that our Malaysian education system breeds macai (workers) instead of towkays(bosses)?

By azizix, 28-Feb-2010

The very first thing i know, is that those in authority to make a difference, do NOT se this as a "problem", per say. Their agenda, is to produce a many bumi graduates as possible, in the shortest time possible. They are NOT concerned about the QUALITY, only the the QUANTITY. If meritocracy was the main critria in choosing students for higher education, their agenda would have FAILED miserably. When you have a government who thinks, by being racially inclined, is doing the best for the country, the country is DOOMED. (^_^)

By pierrelewis, 28-Feb-2010

the main problem with people leaving their hometown to seek for higher-paying jobs was: when they find that they could not make it in a short term, they will then move on, say from kampungs to KL, then from Kl to Dubai, or New York, or Melbourne, or Tokyo, or any city that is bigger.

this continuous search for higher paying jobs in bigger cities can never end until the either list (of big cities) runs out, or time runs out.

there is no cure if people continue to be slaves of money and do not know how to manage their own lifestyle according to their means.

Tragic.

By woody_invincible, 28-Feb-2010

LionGirl, why should the Federal government want graduates or for that matter, anyone else, to be good at solving problems?

I'm sure that the best way out of our present problems would be to dump the current UMNO/BN government! And that would be good problem solving.

So, why should they court their own demise?

By troon, 28-Feb-2010

Education has to start from the very basic levels. Once it is bent it wlll continue to bend till it is deformed and will not fit into the mold that it was hoped to be.

During our times, kindergardens were not compulsory and like me I started Standard one when I was 7 years old. It is also at that stage that we started learning the A,B,Cs. Nowadays, teachers in Standard one expects all students are well versed with the alphabets and numbers by Standard one.

Systems changed, syllabus changed. Teachers attitude changed! I made friends with a few and I definately know teachers nowadays think more of their personal gains than the students. I have experienced teachers that love their students so much that they sometimes shed tears like a parent when the students are naughty. Those were the days. Teachers nowadays are also so embroiled with the administrations political woes, always fighting for the most benefits.

The most important point that is left out by our schools systems is ' dedication and patriotism '. One must feel proud and happy when acheiving. Take sports for example, all of us students feels great and proud when our school's football team wins. In inter school's sports supporters were ferried in buses to the game to cheer the team. When the school wins, every students and teachers feels jubilant. This makes everybody proud and closer to the alma mater. Just like citizens protecting their country, students feel compel to defend their school's reputation. Although it may sound ridiculous, it feels good when I was a Xaverianand I will challenge a Free School student if he ridicules my school. During scouting jamborees, we will fight other students who dare talk to Girl guides from Convent Light Street. Bad it may sound but these are the beginnings of how a person can love an establishment. It also breds a sense of patriotism towards a country.

All this are missing nowadays. With education officers collabrating with publishers, furniture suppliers, IT suppliers, everything is corrupted with only one aim in mind. When a leader is bad, all under him will also starts to turn bad. Teachers nowadays are also part timers in other jobs, some to the extent that the teaching job is a part time rather than a full time job. This because of the system of tuition. There are also the 'kiasu' attitude of parents who force kids to take tuition on every subject till the kids felt education is such a bore! Most go through it hating it. They hate books.

Our education system is so academically inclined that most extra curricular activities are almost halted. Arts is almosts ignored. One must understand that NOT all students are born with a mind of intellectuals. Some are born for arts like music, sculpture etc. When a school is equipped with everything only then every students will gain from their time there. Some may excel in sports, some in art, some in music, some in cheer leading and so on.

An educator has to understand that the subjects that a students learns and take examinations for are the just the foundation or basics in life that a person will face. Even if you secured 11 As or none for the matter, you are still not educated. That is just the basics. The real education is in the extra curricular activities. The understanding of human nature, the tolerance a kid must learn, the learning of survival, the learning of friendship, a development of patriotism within the students, the guidance of a carreer path, the sharing of sadness and grief and most important is the togetherness of the school's population right from the headmaster till the canteen operator. Human interaction, that is the real education.
You don't need 5 reasons when they have already failed one.

By sjzhuang, 28-Feb-2010

You fierce, girl.

By tonychan, 28-Feb-2010

As for me I agree with Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi. I had in one of my career the opportunity to recruit graduates. In that short stint, I concur with everything Dr Mohd Fauzi is talking about, it’s all coming back.

From my experience, they don’t have the drive, the initiative to express. Even after I switch to Bahasa. After all, I need their mental alertness and talent not the language or experience. Plus I am also one of the believers, how will they ever gain experience if we don’t give them jobs.

Nevertheless, I need people whom can think, conclude and execute in the best interest of the organization, country and social obligation. I also need to know what their plans, are in the next 5, 10 or 20 years so that we can help chart their training and development path.

Half the time, I don’t ask them what they studied, I ask them only general questions, and e.g. why do we need to save the trees? They give you a short simple answer for each question. The answers are what they hear in TV, Radio or Songs. Primary school kids can come up with better answers. Sometimes I feel guilty, to ask these questions as I am only a diploma holder yet handling group of degree holders, whom can’t comprehend things outside what they have majored.

Secondly, these graduates have got so comfortable that they assume it’s the Government’s and Corporation’s sole responsibility to secure them on-job training. They send out this vibe that as if we are in debt to them to do so. Yet the company I worked with allocates budget every year to train these graduates.

Sure, I have also come across graduates whom worked in odd places with jobs totally opposite than what they have studied. To me these are they type whom will appreciate every ringgit we pay them. Thanks for our good judgment; they are all doing very well. Six of these graduates do contact me today for “makan-makan”. Two of them made it to director level and one of them, till today can’t stop thanking me for the day we were in the interview room.

Job-Hopping? I’ve seen both graduates/non-graduates on this. For me if I find a candidate hopping around at an interval of 3 years or less between organizations can be considered as “Tarzan”. I am relucted to offer them jobs, fear of the same. I rather focus on my time, effort and save company money training the ones I have, whom are loyal and dedicated to the employer.

Lastly, as for the English literacy, was it not these graduates themselves insisted on Bahasa Malaysia, fought for it and demonstrated for it (with A Samad Said)?

By Alitstar, 28-Feb-2010

When Saints goes down the drain. hahaha another saints.

But agree....nowadays, tak layak naik Form 6, tak apalah, janji boleh masuk polis atau tentera bolehlah.

Hah,7 subjects get C only also can go Form6. Some more put a B class of Form 6.

Lepas tu, STPM 4C 1B, dapat Kejuruteraan Mekanikal. Plus biasiswa, yeh sungguh berjaya. Phew...ini macamlah, MY boleh.

By limbilly, 28-Feb-2010

Dear Alistar,
I believe today's graduates are the end product of yesteryear's decision in our education system. They would not behave, as you have experienced interviewing them, without reasons.

We cannot blame the end product without looking at how it has shaped that way. We should look at the craftmen who's behind making of the product.

Everything has a root/ source and once we can identify the root of the problem, we could prevent the repeat of the same problem.
If nothing changes, nothing would change.

By LionGirl, 1-Mar-2010

At 26... i have had changed 5 jobs and finally settled on something that ive always wanted to do...not working for an employer...

some employer did question on my short stint ... but nevertheless, i am just experiencing what i suppose ti before i get too old to do so...had work in Singapore...for the money sake...to pay bills pay home in KL..

Malaysians merely have enough savings after deducting all the expenses...cant blame any parties...we tend to rely on subsidies too much that the gov couldnt allow for a high-living society like sing.

Take your own effort to learn better English..

By sf_84only, 1-Mar-2010

dear Alitstar,

u have your point and i do agree on some except the job hopping ones. i was 'promised' on training and the opportunities of learning in an MNC consulting firm. but when i joined, there isnt any as promised. on it's website, there are thing such as providing a minimum hours of training to staff annually and some 'buddy system' to assist me on my first day but since i've joined (since July 2009), no one taught me anything or ever attend any trainings.
fyi, this is the 3rd company who promised such things but never done it. one of them even cheated my epf, socso and income tax. but i think current ones are the worst since the management isnt doing anything even after voicing it out and the senior arent so happy, so the one who suffers most is the new joiners. to add salt to the wound, politics, non-communications and selfishness is killing the whole team. do i have a choice of staying? or should i just leave? i wish to stay but is there any reason for me to stay? no....i'm not that young anymore and i would like to stay in one and learned everything that i could. i think both employer and employee has the responsibility to do their job.
i guess i have to hop again until i find a decent employer who can do what they had initially promised.

By otyew, 1-Mar-2010

Learn good English with friends and on your own. Leave this country for better path. Come back Malaysia to spend after then, if money and stylish life are what you after for.

Uni Education is part of your life. You have more than 50 years more down the road. What matters is how good you are after uni education. Having good language skill is always the topmost criteria a graduate should have in this globalization era.

Free consultation help in education and career at eric.at.consulting@gmail.com

By nanoeric, 1-Mar-2010

Free promotion eh, eric?

I can say that I both agree and disagree with some of the factors cited in the study.

Lack of industrial training? Well, I'd like to think that many industrial-intensive courses implemented industrial training as a subject already, so why the fuss? From my experience though, it is largely because during the training, the students were not given much chance to do actual works themselves. I have seen Mechanical Engineering female students being relegated to photocopy works simply because workers are not confident of the girls' skill. However, the blame is not entirely on co-workers though. I've also seen some students who slacked off or did a sloppy job even after given extra time. Thus, it is not really the lack of industrial training, but rather the self-discipline of the students that matters the most.

Low problem-solving skills.. hmmm... could be a bad thing. But then again, you can find work even with bad problem-solving skills. Probably such issues matter the most in problem-intensive jobs like engineering and medical practice, where problems can pop up out of thin air. Therefore, the issue here could be that the graduates applied for the wrong type of jobs. However, things can get icky only if you're majoring in a problem-solving qualification, but are bad at handling problems yourself, which is most likely a case of bad decision.

Job hopping? Duh, the researchers really have no idea what's happening in the corporate world, hmm? Job-hopping is like a norm nowadays, and few people could have the pleasure of landing a stable high-paying job inside a stable organization, like maybe Petronas or ExxonMobil or Sime Darby. Besides, add office politics, shady management, favoritism and a plethora of other corporate menaces, and there are plenty of reasons on why graduates wouldn't stay long enough.

I have to admit that lack of self-confidence is quite a problem among graduates nowadays. But then, does the job requested really needs self-confidence as a pre-requisite? I don't think an introvert graphic artists, for example, would need much self-confidence for show as long as he/she is confident enough in his/her works. Self-confidence is really necessary only for jobs that require good impressions and image portrayal, like sales executive or people manager. My point is, if the job requires high self-confidence and the graduate is a scaredycat introvert, it's not a good job match. However, self-confidence is more often than not a pre-requisite for rising up the ranks, so it's a must for high-aiming graduates.

Can KM help the 80,000 Unemployed Malaysian graduates?

Friday, April 15 2005 @ 08:37 AM EDT

Contributed by: Admin

Views: 5,345

Dear Visitos,

The latest Malaysian Government statistics showed that there were 80,000 unemployed graduates(Source:ANN). This huge number of unemployed graduates in Malaysia!-is the 'talk of the town' now. We welcome your views and ideas on how knowledge management can help those graduates.

- Admin.

KK Aw thinks KM can help to slove this unemployment problem, but Andre Young has a different opinion. He thinks it's the Youth Entrepreneurship which can be the only Therapy.

Read all their interesting views here.

1. First of all this is a problem with a large time scale. A change of educational policy will take a long time before we can see the impact. This is the type of problems that is knowledge intensive and where KM should be applied as we need all the knowledge we can gather to make sound decisions.

We cannot afford to make a major mistake. Unfortunately this is the type of problems that is easily abused by politicians. With the short human memory, the politicians are seldom held accountable.

It would certainly be a challenge to apply KM methodology to help these graduates gain employment.

- KK Aw

............................................. 2. I think KM can help to solve this unemployment problem.

The first thing of KM is to find the specific knowledge an organization need to ensure efficient performance and then develop tools to create, collect, store and share those knowledge. So the same concept can be implemented in this unemployment issue.

Find out what the companies need in an employee and what are the skills that a candidate is lack of. Then develop tools (learning institutes, information exchange platform etc.) to reduce the gap. A learning environment is very essential for effective KM in any organization. So this learning environment can be created both in the universities/institutes and organizations. Companies should regularly visit the educational institutions to share their experiences, expectations from the graduates and so on (sharing – very important part of KM).

To solve this 80,000 unemployment problem, some revolutions has to be made.

- Azhar, Kuala Lumpur

............................................ 3. Hi comrades,

I think the best solution for the graduate unemployment is Youth entrepreneurship. Something that we never realize and we are lack of. Most of the graduate, they only learn theory but never practice their entrepreneurial skills. They just focus on seeking jobs after graduating to gain more experience.

However, There are too few jobs out there and they need to compete with thousands of us who have more or less same qualifications.

Why don’t we start thinking how to be a job creator rather than a job seeker. Entrepreneur is not necessarily born. We all can learn to be an entrepreneur. We have eaten up all theories at school, so why don’t we go out and apply them for something that benefits us and others.

You want to know more about how successful and enjoyable to be a young entrepreneur.....See you at Melaka International Youth Dialogue-V....Let's talk and do it.

Andre Young, Melaka

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