Geoffrey Williams, of Malaysia University of Science and Technology, said currently the only jobs available for graduates are those in the gig economy and in labour-intensive industries.
“The truth is our students are overqualified for the work available now and in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Williams said companies were struggling to pay their employees better salaries because they had lower revenues due to lockdowns.
He added he was told by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) that they had very little in reserve at the beginning of the lockdown and were just keeping their heads above water now.
“Unfortunately, some also used the pandemic as an excuse to cut wages. I know some companies that have forced ‘voluntary’ pay cuts and have put higher-paid people on part-time work only to later replace them with cheaper full-time staff,” he said.
Williams commended human resources minister M Saravanan’s work in enforcing regulations on employment standards. However, he added, the ministry cannot enforce regulations that are in place to protect them if workers do not report abuses.
“I encourage graduates who are being paid badly to report it to the minister, especially if they are not being paid the minimum wage as required by law,” he said.
According to Williams, even the minimum wage set was too low at RM1,200 when Bank Negara Malaysia agreed that the living wage for a single person in Kuala Lumpur was RM2,700.
He added that the top management of companies should take pay cuts so their workers could be paid better.
The Malaysian Employers Federation said many large and small companies were suffering from severe financial constraints globally and locally due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with some employers implementing pay cuts ranging from 10% to 15% in 2020.
MEF president Syed Hussain Syed Husman said that despite the economic pressures due to Covid-19, employers should respect the law and comply with the prescribed minimum wage rates.
“The first priority of all employers and businesses is to keep their employees safe (from Covid-19) and the second is to ensure the businesses survive and there is continuity,” he said.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress deputy president Mohd Effendy Abdul Ghani said employers must follow the minimum wage law as the government had already given them many stimulus packages such as Penjana, Permai, Prihatin and Pemerkasa.
“If they are still unable to pay their workers, then something is wrong and the government must look into this,” he said.
Recently, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng slammed ministers who “heartlessly asked graduates to be grateful” for being employed at all, even if the pay was below the minimum wage.
According to the Statistics Department, a majority of fresh graduates entering the job market last year received an estimated monthly salary of between RM1,001 and RM1,500, compared with the average RM2,001 to RM2,500 recorded in 2019.
Lim said the comments by both Saravanan and economics minister Mustapa Mohamed contradicted the National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011, which imposes a RM10,000 fine on companies giving employees less than the mandated minimum in wages.