Challenges
In Malaysia the unemployment rate in February 2019 remained at 3.3% since September 2018, the number of unemployed stood at 516,400, a 1.6% increase against February 2018. The data is reported by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia.
Apart from that, the labor force participation rate in February 2019 was 68.5%, a drop of 0.1 percentage point as compared to the previous month. However, this marked an increase of 0.3 percentage point’s year-on-year (February 2018: 68.2%).
Total headcount of the labor force rose by 2.1% against February 2018 to 15.54 million people. During the same period, employed persons also increased by 2.1% to 15.03 million.
The main challenges faced in meeting the unemployment problem of Malaysia are:
- Skills mismatch
- Lacking employability skills
- Relevant job experiences
Toward a Solution
To meet the challenges mentioned above, Youth and adults can gain the skills and credentials they need to enter and succeed in careers through work-based learning.
Work-based learning is an educational strategy which provides students with real-life work experiences through immersion programmes guided by industrial practitioners. Students get to not only know what they have learned but hone their technical skills as well at the workplace. Specifically, WBL collaboration between polytechnic and collaborative industries cover the aspect of curriculum development, teaching, and learning, monitoring, and assessment both in the classroom and at the workplace.
Work-based learning aims to:
- Collaborate with industrial partners during curriculum design to integrate workplace tasks and classroom instruction
- Expose students to the nature of the workplace as early as possible to give them the necessary experience and a head start in their career
- Make students put into practice and test the theories that they learned in the classroom
- Enable institutes to understand the needs of the industries better and provides a better alternative for the practical components as students will be using real equipment and probably better machines
- To enhance soft skills especially communication skills, presentation skills, problem-solving skills as well as critical thinking skills of students through the application of their knowledge
Addressing the challenges:
- Skill mismatch: There is a rise in the unemployment rate due to an imbalance between skills demand and skills supply. To overcome the skills mismatch academic curriculum should be developed according to the skill demands from industries. A survey conducted by the World Bank and Talent Corporation in 2014 found that less than 10% of companies had experience in developing curriculum or programmes with universities. WBL collaborate with industrial partners during curriculum design to integrate workplace tasks and classroom instruction which will help in balancing the skills demand and skills supply in the labor market.
- Employability Skills: In general, most of the respondents in different surveys strongly agreed on their lacking of employability skills. WBL develops employability skills of youths by putting students into practice and tests the theories they have learned in the classroom. Besides, Communication skills rank the highest among job applicants, with 68% seeing it as the most important factor, followed by work experience, interpersonal skills, passion, and commitment. The WBL education strategy enhances soft skills especially communication skills, presentation skills, problem-solving skills as well as critical thinking skills of students through the application of their knowledge which polishes their skills.
- Relevant job experience: The high unemployment rate among youth is partly due to a lack of job experience and insufficient skills to compete in the labor market which implies that experience is an important indicator of employability. WBL helps youths to gather job relevant experience by putting students into practice and test the theories that they learned in the classroom. Above that, this strategy exposes students to the nature of the workplace as early as possible to give them the necessary experience and a head start in their career.
WBL strategy creates a win-win environment for industries and institutions. WBL is important in providing opportunities for students to receive training, learn skills, and gain experience in all aspects of an industry. The government has already implemented several measures, such as- Tax rebates; to encourage companies to assist graduates to enhance their hard and soft skills via on-the-job training.
