Graduates in today’s day and age are finding it increasingly difficult to get jobs related to their fields of study. Civil engineer Sheikh Azmir Sheikh Mokhtar told NST that the cost of a degree in Malaysia averages around RM3,500 a year at public universities and RM25,000 a year at private institutions - a lesson he learned when he had to pay for his two children’s studies. Twitter user @cukey28 recently posted a tweet about how he spent 5 years to complete his degree in Aircraft Engineering and is now a Food Distribution Rider - in other words, he delivers food for FoodPanda. While this is an honest job and anyone’s profession is their choice, this situation brings forward the very real question about whether they were forced into this because they simply could not find proper paying jobs in their related fields of study.
Throughout the Twitter thread, there were others who also shared their experiences, with job titles like Fluid Distributor Engineer and Jewellery Sales Engineer. A quick look through showed that most of them were in the sales and security industry - jobs that do not require a RM 25,000 degree.
Underemployment among youths in Malaysia stands at more than 10%, which is three times the overall unemployment rate in the nation, according to the Malaysian department of statistics. The World Bank says that while Malaysian employers have a tough time hiring talents, one out of four graduates remain unemployed after graduating.
How did this phenomenon manifest? Both employers and employees have a role to play in this structural economic problem, with graduates advised to equip themselves with necessary skills like English proficiency, digital literacy and other soft skills. On the other end of the spectrum, the increase in minimum wage this year (from RM1,000 to RM 1,050) was deemed “unfair” to employers, said Shamsuddin Bardan, the Executive Director of MEF. However, according the 2019 My Expenses guide published by the Employee Provident Fund (KWSP), youths would require a minimum of RM 1,870 a month for expenses. This makes the average offer of RM1,661 for a diploma holder, RM2,393 for a degree holder and RM3,267 for a Masters graduate close to insufficient and would still render them dependent on parents or other better paying jobs.
How was your first job hunt?
By: Celestine Foo
