Bleak prospects ahead for quality employment
What has been the outcome of the past infusion of massive public funding into vocational and technical education? Why do we get recurring complaints from employers that they cannot get enough skilled workers?
Lim Teck Ghee, The Heat
A short while ago the 11th Malaysia Plan was unveiled in Parliament. The report contains little that is new in terms of the strategies that are expected to propel the country towards high-income status within the next five years. For this to happen, much hinges on what will take place on the employment front.
If quality and gainful employment can be generated for the majority of the population, perhaps the goal of an economically fully developed nation can be attained. If employment targets are not realised, we can forget about higher incomes, greater productivity and people-oriented growth. We can also forget about these targets if there is an externally induced recession or if domestic political risks are not dampened and instability increases.
But for now, the Plan — unsurprisingly — is bullish on future employment prospects for the country and has the following benchmarks.
• 1.5 million jobs to be created between 2015 and 2020
• Greater part of the 1.5m jobs to be created in the services sector (76.5% of total), followed by manufacturing (21.1%) and construction (2.7%)
• Job market will see a shift in major occupational and skill groups. Skilled or white collar jobs such as professionals, managers and technicians will account for 35% of the work force by 2020 (2015 estimate: 28%). Semi-skilled or blue collar workers will comprise the largest segment (2020E: 58.4%; 2015E: 61.9%), while low-skilled employment will drop to 6.6% of total employment in 2020 (2015E: 10.1%).
• Sustained pace of job creation is expected to keep unemployment rate low at 2.8% by 2020.
Warning signs
However, looking at the job situation today, it is difficult to be optimistic. Consider the latest warning signs on the employment position:
