Name : Fazeera Nur Fatin binti Kahar

Matric Number : A14GH0021

Class : 3 SGHL (ULAB 3162)

RESPONSE PAPER
Concern On Unemployment Among New Graduates Due To Lacking Of Relevant
Knowledge And Skills At Workplace

The rising unemployment rate among fresh university graduates today is an upsetting
trend. Now, the pool of unemployment graduates is rising to worrying levels even in some
high-growth economies. Unemployment graduates is defined as a graduate who is
unemployed if he or she is looking for a job and willing to work at the prevailing waze but is
unable to find a job. Currently, unemployment among the graduates becomes an issue,
not only in Malaysia but also around the world. Based on Department of Statistics
Malaysia (2011) , unemployed among graduates remains unsolved, where recorded
unemployment rate in Malaysia had increased from 3.2 % in 2007 to 3.7% in 2009.
The Minister of Human Resources, Fong Chan Onn, stated that the National
Economic Action Council with the collaboration of the Department of Human
Manpower had conducted a census in 2005 and it is found that 59000 graduates and
diploma holders were unemployed and 30000 graduates worked in a field that do not
match with their higher educational qualifications. Unemployment among graduates is a
serious problem and there are many factors have been identified as being the cause of tjis
issues. Thus, which factors are the main causes of the issues.

The first factors that have been identified as being the cause of unemployment among
graduates is lack of employability skills because jobs today require individuals to undertake
many different tasks.Susima and Sanunta (2003) stated that nearby 20,000 graduates in Sri
Lanka were unemployment and this was due to the skills acquired and did not meet the
requirement by the employers. An individuals lack of employability may be manifested
through unemploymentor increasingly, especially among olderworkers, through inactivity.
Inactivity hasbeen growing across the developed worldand is especially high in old
industrial areas.Thus, graduated students have employability skills below average from
employers expectation. Some of the company find the employee based on their capability
whether it is suitable with the job position or not.

The parameter of the unemployment among graduates problem is when talk about
unemployment, to be classified as unemployed they must satisfy two primary criteria which
is the first is they must have no jobs and secondly they must be actively seeking employment.
Poor command English is also the reasons behind fresh graduate unemployment. It is because
proficiency in English influence ones ability to communicate effectively and to articulate
ideas and solutions well. Being the main language for business communications, more and
more employers are taking into account the importance of hiring candidates who have a good
grasp of English. In a survey with various employers or companies, surveyed said that
English was their official business language. Employers are also looking for a more flexible,
adaptable in response to changing market needs. The Human Resource Minister of Malaysia
highlighted the fact that 30,000 Malaysian graduated had only managed to get casual and
temporary work such as being cashier and restaurant workers because of their poor English
proficiency.

Besides that, lack of requisite skills among graduates as one of the major cause of
unemployment in the country. It happened when the qualifications of a person are not
sufficient to meet his job responsibility. If the education was not directed towards the labour
market, then a mismatch occurs thus leading to structural unemployment. These individuals
face difficulties in learning the skills applicable for the acquired job for example computer
skills, management and communication. Meanwhile, graduates have skills in certificate but
do not know how to dress to job interviews and what to say. They do not know how to
present themselves at the interview session neither do they know how to write curriculum
vitae. So, as the need for skilled and educated workers increase for employers, the
employment opportunities for these without a college education decrease leading to higher
employment rate.Despite scoring well in their examinations, fresh graduates still struggled to
secure jobs because they fail to persuade the employers that the poses quality sought after in
the corporate sector

Unemployment among graduated had being a serious problem in this country. The
other factors that caused these problems is the quality of the syllabus of curriculum. Deputy
Human Resources Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar at that time also said that the major
factor to the unemployment among graduates is the failure to catch educational syllabus or
curriculum with the requirements in the job market. The company of curriculum and subject
in university is not in line with workplace literacy required by the industry. This problems
affects the graduates employment as they are unable to obtain a job that suits their skills and
abilities as well as to being competence workers. A research by UniversitiKebangsaan
Malaysia, reported that employers and curriculum on industry in institutions of higher
learning should be redesigned because they found that most graduates do not have a
satisfactory level and job competency. The example would be the quality of the lecturer
which is also an important factor in determining the quality of the studentswho graduated
from a certain place of training or learning institutions. Lecturers are not only responsible for
the daily tasks in educating but also need to potray good behaviour as theywill be an example
and role model to the students.

The solutions to overcome these problems isteacher support should be provided in

university related to employability skills. All of the initial skills for work courses highlight
the importance of two key learning and teaching approaches which should feature in course
delivery. These are experiential learning and develop employability skills. This is mean that
lecturer should communicate to students that they have to perform tasks successfully and that
they are expected to do so other than provide monitoring and encouragement to help them to
achieve success. Lecturers should also encourage students participate in professional
development activities and enrol in classes that emphasize methods to teach employability
skills. At the same time, lecturers should create an atmosphere that encourage imaginative
works in small groups, get students to draw on their own experiences and encourage skills,
concepts and knowledge to be used in a variety of situations. Its can motivate students and
integrate wider key skills into the core curriculum, besides highlight the transferability of
skills and their relationship to employability skills. These can be done by helping students
understand to practical application of certain theory in solving the types of problems that
certain industry often face. Indirectly, these developing students understanding of the
recruitment process and how to negotiate this successfully and sell themselves effectively.

The other way to overcome unemployed among graduated is government or

university must introduced programs to encourage students take part in curriculum activities
that can assists developing soft skills. The Ministry Of Human Resources, through their
industry training institute has introduced programmed referred to as unemployed graduates
training scheme in order to equip fresh graduates with certain skills and experience.

Unemployed among graduates also can be reduce by introducing program to

encourage student where university should establish programmes which are long term and in-
depth, beginning the career awareness activities. This is to prepare fresh graduates with real
workplace experience and what universities need to do is to restructure the programmes in
keeping with local needs. For example, programmes should reflects the kinds of employers in
the community and local preferences for kinds of employer.

Next solution is try to limit student based on job market. This require all funded
government to filter students intake based on current environment. For example, they are
expecting to have 3,000 English expert in 2017. So the number of students they should have
is not move than expected.

Based on the discussion about the unemployment among new graduates due to
lacking of relevant knowledge and skills at workplace, I am agree with them where lack of
requisite skills among graduates as one of the major cause of unemployment in the country.
Besides, the graduates are weak in the aspect of employability skills and do not show a good
working performance. A study conducted by Central Bank of Malaysia (2002) also
found that the Malaysian graduates are less skilled as compared to the international
graduates. The skills include technical skills, problem-solving skills and communication
skills, especially in English language