Unemployed graduates: Who prospers?
Ikim research officer Nor Hartini Saari said “roughly RM500 million” had been expended in retraining. “However, according to the Minister, only 1,400 graduates have been employed after participating in the aforementioned training scheme.”
Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee, Director, Centre for Policy Initiatives
Najib Razak’s 2010 Budget is called ‘1Malaysia, Together we prosper’. Before the advent of the Prime Minister’s multi-million ringgit public relations sloganeering, his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had already introduced the ‘Prosper’ theme.
Abdullah in his Oct 30, 2005 budget speech announced ‘Prosper’ or Projek Pembangunan Usahawan dalam Bidang Peruncitan to assist graduates venturing into business. Under Prosper, Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB) would finance 200 graduates up to RM50,000 each; that easily amounts to RM10 million.
Prosper is an ongoing programme and this year, its attachment training will allow participants to intern in PUNB investee companies. The cost of ensuring this prosperity is, however, not open to public knowledge.
Nonetheless, the RM10 million allocated in Abdullah’s 2006 Budget is clearly a drop in the ocean compared to the RM700 million set aside in Najib’s March 10, 2009 mini budget. The latter’s stimulus package planned to create 163,000 training and job placement opportunities for retrenched workers and unemployed graduates.
Of this number, 50,000 will be absorbed into the civil service, adding to its already obese size and bloated payroll. It is important to note that under the RM191.5 billion 1Malaysia Budget, 72.2% is for operating expenditure, out of which RM42.2 billion is for emoluments. Furthermore next month, a “special financial contribution” (announced earlier) in the form of a year-end bonus totalling RM400 million will be paid to public sector employees from Grade 41 to Grade 54.
Khazanah – ‘treasuring’ human capital
It is true that other parts of the world are similarly facing the problem of workers getting laid off and school leavers unable to find jobs due to the depressed global economy.
However the numbers in Malaysia are simply staggering. Based on estimates, about 60,000 graduates might find it difficult to seek employment at all times, said Najib when launching the Graduate Employability Management Scheme (GEMS) on March 13, 2009.
