The company, Seek Asia, told FMT that those from the younger generation need to learn new skills, even after they finish their tertiary education, to gain an edge in the job market.
“The cycle of skill sets is moving very quickly.
“Skill sets such as digital marketing and product management did not exist 10 years ago. But they have become some of the most sought-after skills in the market now,” chief commercial officer Martin Hayden said on the sidelines of the Jobstreet HR Networking 2017 event here today.
Also at the event was Jobstreet Malaysia country manager Chook Yuh Yng, who spoke on the importance of higher education levels for job creation.
According to Chook, a society with a higher level of education will attract more investors to set up their businesses in the country, thus creating more jobs.
She added that gaining new skill sets would only benefit employees and help further their careers.
“When graduates finish their first degree, they shouldn’t stop there.
“Don’t stop there because the job market won’t wait for you. You have to evolve with the market,” she said.
It was recently reported that Malaysia had recorded a dismal number of job opportunities created in the last four years.
Since 2013, some 672,000 jobs were offered only in the low and lower-middle income range.
Earlier today, Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said a total of 54,103 graduates were unemployed for six months after they completed their studies last year.
This is on top of Bank Negara Malaysia’s annual report released in March which said the youth unemployment rate reached 10.7% in 2015.
This is more than three times the national unemployment rate of 3.1%.
Chook said this pattern of unemployment, especially for those within the range of 20-29 years old, was typical even on a global scale.
“Much like the cycle of the economy, it will gradually become better, more so when the education level of a country is improved,” she said.
According to data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Spain recorded the worst youth unemployment rate in Europe in 2011, at 46.4%.
In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate is expected to increase from 12.4% in 2015 to 13.6% in 2017.