Malaysia has 60,000 unemployed graduates

Agence Fance Presse news agency

03 November 2005

Malaysia has 60,000 undergraduates unemployed: report

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (AFP) - A government survey has revealed nearly
60,000
Malaysian graduates are unemployed, many of who cannot get jobs
because of
their lack of experience and poor English and communication skills, a
report
said Thursday.

The study by the country's Economic Planning Unit in September said the
typical unemployed graduate was female, from the majority ethnic
Malay race
and lower income groups, the New Straits Times reported.

Many of the unemployed graduates had also majored in business studies or
information technology, while 81 percent attended public
universities, where
the medium of instruction in many courses is the Malay language.

"Most have been jobless for more than a year," Human Resources
Minister Fong
Chan Onn was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

"Some had jobs but not in accordance with their qualifications," he
said.

The 59,250 graduates polled said they were unemployed because they
had no
job experience, had poor English language and communication skills
and had
pursued studies irrelevant to the market place.

"Universities must ensure that their graduates are marketable," said
Fong.

"It's sad when after their studies, they cannot find jobs because
they lack
the required disciplines, skills, language and experience," he said.

"I have emphasised many a time that graduates must master the English
language and ensure they have communication skills," Fong added.

Graduate unemployment has been a sore point for the government, which
has so
far pumped 100 million ringgit (26.5 million dollars) into skills
training
and re-training schemes, according to the newspaper.

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