Unemployed Graduates in Malaysia Increased by 22.5% in 2020

According to the newest report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the country saw the number of unemployed graduates increase by 22.5 per cent. In 2019, there were 165,200 unemployed graduates, which grew to 202,400 in 2020.

Chief Statistician of DOSM, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, said that the unfavourable economic environment in 2020 and its consequences for the overall labour market situation caused the spike of unemployed graduates. 

More graduates in 2020

According to him, there were 5.36 million graduates in 2020, an increase of 4.5 per cent from 5.13 million graduates in 2019. The recent increase in graduates was associated with the awareness of the importance of higher education to improve livelihoods.  

He added that after completing tertiary education, graduates typically aim to secure jobs comparable to their qualification and subsequently earn higher wages and other perks that come with it. 

Unemployment caused by the pandemic

In a statement on July 27, Mohd Uzir said that the challenging labour market situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic caused fewer job openings and increased competition. 

According to the DOSM's Graduates Statistics 2020, the increase was seen for both degree (+22,400) and diploma holders (+14,800), predominantly among graduates aged 35 and up. 

Therefore, graduates' unemployment rate last year increased by 0.5 percentage points (ppt) to 4.4 per cent against 3.9 per cent in 2019. Additionally, over 75% of unemployed graduates were actively looking for work, whereby about half were jobless for less than three months. 

The report defined graduates as persons with the highest certificate obtained from universities, polytechnics, colleges, recognised bodies or equivalent, with the study duration of at least two years. 

Almost 70% in the skilled occupation category 

The Chief Statistician said among 4.35 million employed graduates in 2020, over two-thirds 68.8 per cent were in the skilled occupation category. However, the number was down 0.8 per cent from 2019. He said that the decrease was seen in the occupation categories of professional, technician, and associate professional. 

In comparison, the semi-skilled category had a 19.3 per cent increase of employed graduates, specifically in the services and sales, and plant and machine operators and assemblers categories. The composition of employed graduates in the semi-skilled category rose to 28.9 per cent in 2020, compared to 25.6 per cent in 2019. 

In 2020, 2.3 per cent of employed graduates were working in low-skilled jobs. 

From the economic sector perspective, over 75 per cent or 3.37 million graduates were working in the services sector, followed by 14.6 per cent in the manufacturing sector in 2020. 

Source: The Edge Markets

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