SIM: MALAYSIA'S LABOUR MARKET FACES SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES POSED BY THREE PARADOXES

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 20 (BERNAMA) -- Malaysia is facing three major paradoxes, which present significant challenges to the country’s labour market, said Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.

He explained that the first paradox is the low median wage, which does not align with the country’s low unemployment rate.

“The low unemployment rate, (in theory), should allow workers to negotiate higher wages, as they have bargaining power due to the shortage of workers in the market,” he said at a press conference, after conducting a working visit to the Federation of Trade Unions of Independent Statutory Bodies with Segregated Remuneration, here, today.

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He said that the second paradox was the mismatch in the number of graduates, compared with feedback from the industry, which stated that they needed more highly skilled workers.

“We have received feedback that we need more engineers and technicians, and some even say we need (an additional) 60,000 workers to meet the needs of the industry.

“However, at the same time, we also find that individuals with high qualifications are not securing jobs which match their skills,” he said.

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Sim attributed this mismatch to the relatively high underemployment rate, of 36.8 per cent.

He also highlighted a third paradox: the insufficient number of new job opportunities to accommodate the growing number of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, produced annually by higher education institutions.

“Every year, our universities graduate approximately 300,000 individuals, one-third of whom are in the STEM sector. Additionally, we have around 100,000 TVET graduates across various levels.

“However, if we look at the economic trends, we are only able to create around 50,000 skilled, high-paying job opportunities,” he said.

In response to these paradoxes, Sim said that the government has been diligently working over the past two years to strengthen various initiatives, aimed at improving the skills of the local workforce and aligning them with industry needs through the MADANI Economy Framework.

“The framework is designed to ‘reconfigure’ our economy, raising its ceiling and value, so that it can generate more job opportunities,” he said.

Sim also emphasised that the government is collaborating with educational institutions and industries, to bridge the gap between graduates’ skills and market demands.

“This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, but we must take action now to prevent it from worsening,” he said.

-- BERNAMA