Job skills mismatch is blamed behind the increase of unemployment rate in Malaysia. A comparative study of curriculum between Government Polytechnic and Skills Development Center
The litany for most of the new graduates nowadays is “it’s so hard to find a job”. Looking for a job now is not as easy as in the days of our parents. We can thank the ongoing economic trends for contributing to this as well as the structures in place within education and government.
Malaysia is no different from any other Asian country. It faces a shortage of skilled and technical workers. “The resulting impact of these economic forces on organizations is creating challenges for employers, including high turnover, escalating wages and employee expectations which exceeds the organizations’ abilities to accommodate them. (Compensating, Hiring and Retaining Employees in Southeast Asia. Gross, Ames & McDonald, Tim. (February 1998). Retrieved 28 April, 2011, from http://www.pacificbridge.com/publication.asp?id=58.)” Due to shortages of qualified professionals and technical workers, the competition is very tough amongst employers. The three options to fill in positions within the organizations include: 1. Hire locals; 2. Hire “returnees”; and 3. Hire expatriates.
Due to the lack of skilled workers in the local market, companies are forced to spend money for training. This increases the value of the employee who in turn can be wooed by other firms with promises of higher pay and benefits to leave the present company. “Returnees” or locals who have gone abroad for education and/or employment have numerous advantages. These employees return to their country already familiar with Western business practices and oftentimes do not have a language barrier.
In an article from the Star Online, Royce Cheah reported the following: “A mismatch in skills is costing many of the information communications technology (ICT) graduates jobs in the industry. Many local graduates were also not willing to take up jobs beyond their field of study. Local ICT graduates lack fundamental technical skills and only had basic knowledge of software such as Microsoft Office. Foreign graduates have better language skills and the curricula are more in line with the market demands. (Mismatch of Skills and Jobs. Cheah, Royce. (28 June, 2005.) Retrieved 28 April, 2011 from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/6/28/nation/11335950&sec=nation.)”
“Malaysian Universities and colleges are contributing to a pool of unemployed graduates by offering courses which are not providing the right foundations for the relevant job positions in the respective sectors. Students are advised to consider carefully the courses to choose to subscribe to in university as a supposedly minor difference between “multimedia” and “computer science” will actually result in vastly different outcomes to subsequent job placements and future career options. (The “Neither Here Nor There” Degree Courses. Tony P. (18 April 2005.) Retrieved 28 April, 2011 from http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2005/04/neither-here-nor-there-degree-courses.html.)”
Many Malaysian students seek higher education but many of them do not have easy access to it. “Access to higher education to local public institutions of higher education is limited. A quota system introduced under the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970 and increasing fees in private schools have not helped. According to a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) in 2005, only 29.9% of Malaysians obtained higher education qualifications. In comparison to their neighboring Asian countries, Singapore and Thailand have3 46% and 41% respectively in tertiary education and South Korea has 89%. (Expensive Race to Higher Education. Lek, Ken Vin. (10 July, 2010.) Retrieved 28 April, 2011 from http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/07/state-of-higher-education-in-malaysia.html.) Malaysia has a target where it wants to have at least 40% of its population in the 19-24 age groups to have access to higher education by 2020. “Free Malaysia Today (FMT) did a study of the publications by the Higher Education Ministry and came up with a startling fact: only one in 60 secondary school students in the 1960s had access to higher education, and this trend is still rising today. Professor James Chin, head of Arts of Monash University Malaysia quoted, “Malaysia can never be a developed country if the rate remains this low. On the one hand, we have a problem of quality; on the other, the problem of percentage. Quality is obviously harder to improve, and we are nowhere near becoming a knowledge-based economy.” (Expensive Race to Higher Education. Lek, Ken Vin. (10 July, 2010.) Retrieved 28 April, 2011 from http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/07/state-of-higher-education-in-malaysia.html.)
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