How will Budget 2023 address challenges facing Malaysia's young workforce?

KUALA LUMPUR: Young Malaysians in the workforce still face great challenges in earning sustainable wages, especially those living in big cities such as Kuala Lumpur, says a fresh graduate.

Anasofea Ridzwan, former Deputy President of International Islamic University Malaysia’s Student Union, hoped Budget 2023 would include allocations for fresh graduates to earn “living wages”.

Drawing from her experience in searching for employment as a fresh graduate, Anasofea said it was difficult for youths to sustain themselves with current starting salaries.

This is despite the current minimum wage increasing from RM1,200 to RM1,500 earlier this year.

Speaking on It’s About YOUth, she proposed for young Malaysians to be offered wages that allowed them to go beyond just making ends meet.

“For us, the rising cost of living as well as finding a job that can pay us adequately is a challenge,” she said.

“I hope this idea of living wages can be implemented in the budget, where it will help to reduce unemployment based on (different) places in Malaysia. To be fair, the cost of living in Kuala Lumpur is different from Terengganu and Kelantan.”

Anasofea suggested the government consider more targeted schemes to compensate or offer tax reductions to employers who agree to take on fresh graduates.

The Department of Statistics recorded a 4.7 per cent increase in the number of graduates in Malaysia for 2021.

However, the rate of skill-related underemployment for graduates has also continued on an upward trend of 33.9 per cent, adding up to 1.55 million people.

Zaim Mohzani, Director of External Relations at KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific, noted that a quarter of Malaysia’s economy is currently geared towards low-skilled jobs.

“What it tells you is that when one goes out to work… the jobs you find are low-paying, with long hours and the environment may not be conducive,” he explained.

He said the government had done its fair share to address this matter, such as the Jamin Kerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative aimed to create 600,000 job opportunities, which has helped to reduce the unemployment rate to 3.7 per cent as of July.

But there are other issues plaguing the youths such as underemployment and job mismatch, whereby young Malaysians are often working jobs they are overqualified for.

"It is a very complicated issue and there's no silver bullet for this," he said. "The government is doing a lot but more needs to be done to tackle the issue."

Moving forward, Zaim called for Putrajaya to make Jamin Kerja a permanent initiative and expand it to include wage subsidies, so youths could earn living wages.

He also urged the government to expedite the enforcement of amendments to the Employment Act to this year, which sees longer maternity leave and allows employees to apply for flexible working arrangements, among others.