Expect more to be jobless until end 2020, says employers’ body

MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan says there are not enough jobs to go around for the high number of graduates every year. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has warned that more local graduates will be unemployed unless they buck up with skills needed by the industry.

Its executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said the trend would continue till the end of next year due to the local and global economy, adding that the World Bank had also predicted a gloomy economy till end 2020.

He said at present out of every 100 jobs advertised, 89 were for lower-ranking jobs, which locals were not keen on.

“Four jobs are mid-range and only seven jobs are high-skill jobs,” he told FMT.

He said most Malaysians, especially graduates, looked for mid-range jobs, but there were not enough jobs to go around for the high number of graduates every year.

He said due to the number it will be an employer’s market, to hire the best candidate.

“We want people who can communicate. Even that, we can’t get. It’s a never-ending problem.

“Our graduates are spoonfed, we have to keep mentoring them over and over again,” he said adding that due to this, those who could think out of the box and be independent stood a better chance of being hired.

Shamsuddin said employers in the private sector needed people with proper English writing and speaking skills and those who were an asset to their employers.

He said those in the Information Technology line and with technical skills were also likely to be hired.

“But we don’t know what is happening at the government administration. We do not know which direction the government is going in terms of TVET,” he said referring to Technical and Vocational Education Training.

He said Malaysians must understand that the private sector was not doing as well as before due to the economic climate and because of this the hiring process for mid and high range jobs was dipping in numbers.

He said even the bigger companies were in the midst of restructuring and retrenching their workforce, while the micro-sized companies were pulling the shutters down.

“The increasing cost of doing business is also affecting the smaller companies,” he said adding that minimum wages had gone up to RM1,050 per person, and companies were also required to pay for social security, or Socso, for every worker.

He said companies were looking at doing away with manpower by using robotics or artificial intelligence, which could result in a further sluggish employment sector.

Monster.com’s Monster Employment Index (MEI) reported a continued downward slide in the first quarter of this year, registering a decline of 8% in both January and February 2019.

This marks the country’s 12th consecutive month of online hiring decline, it had said.

It was further reported that the demand for skilled technical professionals and hiring across the Information and Technology industry continued to rise as the sector recorded 11 straight months of positive annual growth. - FMT