Unemployment problem among graduates of technical field: competencies of the graduates and quality of the education

Abstract

The issue of unemployment is an issue not only in Malaysia but around the world. Report show that nearly 30 percent of graduate trainees public skills training institutes in Malaysia continue to be unemployed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors that contribute to the unemployment problem among Malaysian graduates from two aspects, which are graduates’ competency and the quality of education, which are related to the learning and curriculums of the programmers offered in educational institutions. This study focuses on the factors of unemployment problems among graduates of technical fields. This study was conducted qualitatively through interview among eight experts, who have experiences in teaching and working in the industries. The majority of the respondents agreed that the graduates’ competency and the quality of education are among the factors that contribute to the unemployment problem among graduates of technical fields nowadays. Therefore, appropriate efforts and actions should be taken in curbing this problem since graduates are important resources of human capital for an organization or a country. Human capital with the knowledge and qualified skills contribute to the enhancement of the country’s economic productivity.