54,103 GRADUATES UNEMPLOYED SIX MONTHS AFTER GRADUATION - WELCOME TO THE INFORMATION AND SERVICES ECONOMY!

The large number of unemployed university and college graduates has been a perennial problem in Malaysia and also worldwide, especially in the developed countries which hollowed out their manufacturing industries by outsourcing manufacturing work to lower wage countries, whilst paperback writers who sold many books and earned lots of money from speaking engagements which many bums in seats paid plenty to hear their 'words of wisdom' as if they were Moses, descendeth from the mountain, tablets in hand.

So the economic sun set on those countries from which 'sunset' industries departed, whilst the sun rises in those countries to which these 'sunset' industries went, just as when the sun is 'setting' somewhere on planet Earth, it is rising on the other side of our planet.

Well actually, the sun never sets on planet Earth. If it did, we'll all freeze to death.

The latest horror story is that Malaysia has 54,103 unemployed university and college graduates as per the first article below and the solution proposed by an Australian recruitment company in the second article following it is more or less for these graduates to keep running like hamsters on a treadmill, learning and re-learning stuff which will be obsolete in no time in order  to remain 'relevant' in our economy which aspires to be a 'knowledge-based, information economy' as we 'move up the value chain' above the 'lowly' agricultural and manufacturing industries which were solid foundations of the Malaysian economy and still are in fact.

I bumped into the former human resources manager at the company I used to work for a couple of months back and he told me that he now provides human resource consultancy to a rather obscure private university college nearby and I jovially told him - "So, you are working for a graduate factory" and he replied, "Yes, we are churning them out by the hundreds". No wonder there are so many unemployed graduates.



During my father's time, well even during my time, if one leaves school with a Senior Cambridge or a Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) they could get a job quite easily, whilst those who wanted to become lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants, architects or some other profession continued to pursue their Higher Certificate of Education (Form 6) or STPM and then continued to university, if their parents could afford it. Others went into business and some are tycoons today or learned a trade or vocation.

However today, one needs a degree or diploma to be an office clerk, when back in my time, a Senior Cambridge or SPM would do fine thank you. What next - will one need a degree to be employed as a toilet cleaner in the future,

I guess edjucashun is big business, so I guess gotta keep students running like hamsters on a treadmill moving 'higher and higher up the value chain' in order to remain employable in a job WHICH a Senior Cambridge or SPM holder could do during my time. WELCOME TO THE INFORMATION AND SERVICES ECONOMY!

I got a friend who has a small company which packs and supplies latex and nitrile medical gloves to hospitals and clinics and he can't find enough workers.

Perhaps he could help relieve the situation by hiring a couple of unemployed graduates to pack gloves but dunno if they will regard such work 'beneath their dignity'.

Meanwhile, shares of rubber medical glove manufacturers Careplus, Comfort and Hartalega are on the uptrend again after a pull back, whilst Top Glove looks like it may begin an uptrend again soon.

Thankfully, Malaysia still has 'sunset' industries earning millions, mostly from exports, which bring in much foreign exchange or we will be in deep scheiss.

After all, we can't use cyber toilets or virtual toilets however much we 'move up the value chain', can we? Someone has to manufacture them, don't they?

Cheers

IT.SCHEISS

Over 54,000 grads jobless 6 months after completing studies Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 54,103 graduates were unemployed six months after they completed their studies last year.

Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said the number was based on the Graduands Detection Survey System (SKPG), which recorded 238,187 finishing their studies last year.

He said courses with the highest number of unemployed graduates were business administration, applied sciences, human resource management, accounting, arts and social sciences.

“This number did not comprise graduates from the public universities only but also from private universities and colleges,” he said in reply to a question from Senator Ng Chiang Chin in the Dewan Negara today.

Idris said in tackling the issue of unemployed graduates, the higher education ministry had implemented a number of programmes, including the Integrated Cumulative Grade Point Average (iCGPA), Two Universities + Two Industries (2u2i) and the CEO Faculty.

“We created these programmes according to the national education blueprint.

“The rest of the world which does not have these (programmes) are watching us. This system will be able to produce graduates that are more holistic for the working world,” he said.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/08/17/over-54000-grads-jobless-6-months-after-completing-studies/


AND THE PROPOSED SOLUTION




‘Fresh grads need to evolve with the market’
Nora Jasw | August 17, 2017

PETALING JAYA: An Australian recruitment company has urged today’s youth to constantly develop new skill sets to cater to the growing demand of industries.

The company, Seek Asia, told FMT that those from the younger generation need to learn new skills, even after they finish their tertiary education, to gain an edge in the job market.

“The cycle of skill sets is moving very quickly.

“Skill sets such as digital marketing and product management did not exist 10 years ago. But they have become some of the most sought-after skills in the market now,” chief commercial officer Martin Hayden said on the sidelines of the Jobstreet HR Networking 2017 event here today.

Also at the event was Jobstreet Malaysia country manager Chook Yuh Yng, who spoke on the importance of higher education levels for job creation.

According to Chook, a society with a higher level of education will attract more investors to set up their businesses in the country, thus creating more jobs.

She added that gaining new skill sets would only benefit employees and help further their careers.

“When graduates finish their first degree, they shouldn’t stop there.

“Don’t stop there because the job market won’t wait for you. You have to evolve with the market,” she said.

It was recently reported that Malaysia had recorded a dismal number of job opportunities created in the last four years.

Since 2013, some 672,000 jobs were offered only in the low and lower-middle income range.

Earlier today, Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said a total of 54,103 graduates were unemployed for six months after they completed their studies last year.

This is on top of Bank Negara Malaysia’s annual report released in March which said the youth unemployment rate reached 10.7% in 2015.

This is more than three times the national unemployment rate of 3.1%.

Chook said this pattern of unemployment, especially for those within the range of 20-29 years old, was typical even on a global scale.

“Much like the cycle of the economy, it will gradually become better, more so when the education level of a country is improved,” she said.

According to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Spain recorded the worst youth unemployment rate in Europe in 2011, at 46.4%.

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate is expected to increase from 12.4% in 2015 to 13.6% in 2017.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/08/17/fresh-grads-need-to-evolve-with-the-market/