An Analysis of Unemployment Issues in Malaysia: An Academic Essay

This essay delves into the critical issue of unemployment in Malaysia, particularly focusing on the rising rates among graduates. It begins by highlighting the significance of full employment as a macroeconomic goal and the challenges faced by developing countries. The essay then explores the causes of unemployment, such as the preference of companies for experienced workers, the lack of real-world training in university curricula, and communication skill gaps among graduates from rural backgrounds. It also discusses the negative consequences of unemployment, including economic stagnation, mental and emotional stress, increased crime, and strain on government resources. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for government intervention, such as foreign direct investment, to create job opportunities and improve the living standards of the Malaysian population, while acknowledging the importance of balancing foreign investment with the needs of domestic businesses.

Running head: ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic Writing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1
ACADEMIC WRITING
Part A:
Topic Sentence 1:
On one hand, the abilities of internet in extending interpersonal relationships can be
extolled as now people can connect to each other across boundaries, on the other hand
internet is also causing several psychological and social issues that can damage the social
existing connections. Internet makes people browsing and spending more time online at the
cost of their time spent with their family and friends. As a result to that, people are now
sitting in front of their laptop, computers at home more than going out and talking to their
friends, relatives or neighbours.
Topic Sentence 2:
Public transportation in cities mostly acts as a significant solution to the
environmental, economic and energy challenges of the nation. It helps bringing a better and
sustainable future. These services are affordable for all economic classes, therefore people
can easily travel as well.
Topic Sentence 3:
Nowadays toddlers love playing around electronic gadgets, so most parents are now
substituting baby toys and books for smart phones. However these gadgets can never be the
substitute of one-on-one conversation with their caregivers. Researches show that this
continuous presence may have a harmful impact on children’s mind.
Topic Sentence 4:
As an offense littering is generally overlooked by most of the governments as there is
no such immediate impact of such offense. However, this has long term consequences as it
can harm the environment and people as well. Due to clogged drains flood causes in cities
making environment unhygienic and bringing contagious diseases.

2
ACADEMIC WRITING
Topic Sentence 5:
Playing with toys is an exciting thing for children as it brings them joy, happiness and
many happy memories to cherish. A child always has an innate curiosity; therefore
discovering new things with their toys makes them more fascinated with toys. Toys can also
manifest their interest in art, locomotive, music and several other things.
Part B:
Introduction
Unemployment is a crucial issue of every nation, especially in the developing
countries that have a huge population. Higher unemployment rates indicate that the labour
resources in the country are not being efficiently utilized. Therefore any country should have
a major macroeconomic goal of having full employment and this should be a part of the
government policy (Hanapi & Nordin, 2014). However, there has been no such effective
solution to this issue till date. Furthermore unemployed graduates have turned into a serious
issue in Malaysia. Few years ago, a newspaper report even claimed that the unemployment
rate amongst the university graduates has reached to 70% (Shamsudin et al., 2017).
Therefore, this essay will trigger this issue and discuss the causes and effects of such
increasing unemployment rates amongst graduates in Malaysia.
Discussion
The unemployment level differs along with the financial condition of the nation and
other potential market forces. This mostly occurs due to the mismatch of the skilled labours
in the market and any kind of structural changes can influence this level (Cheong et al.,
2016). Unemployment can also be caused due to any downturn in the economy. The
significant reasons for higher unemployment rates are discussed below:
Most companies now prefer employing people who have significant years of
experiences than the fresh graduates. As the university syllabus does not provide them any

3
ACADEMIC WRITING
major exposure on real life training or offer internship programs, the fresh graduates often are
rejected by the companies due to their lack of experience (Mustapha & Selvaraju, 2015). The
university life mostly offers textbook based knowledge that may be difficult applying on the
real life environments. Therefore, the universities in Malaysia should offer necessary
internship period for students as the students will become familiar with particular industries;
they can have real life experience and learn skills that cannot be learnt from the textbooks.
Along with that, most of the university graduates who come from rural background do not
have proper communication and social skills than graduates coming from cities (Ekpe & Mat,
2015). There is language barrier which prevents them to be employed in firms that need
workers who are fluent in Malay and English. Therefore, even if they are being graduated
with amazing academic grades, they are deprived of getting suitable jobs for themselves.
Mustapha & Selvaraju (2015) also suggested that the female graduates in Malaysia have
serious lack in social skills, low self confidence level. Even though they have excellent
grades, they are unable to secure employment. In addition to that, some researchers also
pointed out that some of the graduates are arrogant and do not have aptitude to work within a
team. According to Babar et al. (2015), the unemployment rate is continuously increasing in
Malaysia also because the children are being taught in Bahasa Malaysia language in their
primary and secondary schools, therefore in their later lives they are having trouble to learn
English language which is the universal lingua franca and they are being unable to get a
suitable job.
Furthermore, the consequences of such increasing unemployment rate are harmful for
the socio-economic growth of the country. Unemployment not only hampers the usual
economic growth in a country, but it also lead to mental and emotional stress. This can
destroy interpersonal relationships and turn to violence (Ekpe & Mat, 2015). Unemployment
also leads to a lot of violent criminal activities. It also affects the national economy in

4
ACADEMIC WRITING
different ways. If people are not employment, they are unable to pay taxes and spend money
on luxuries. If people are unemployed, they are living on the government aids or their saved
money. Therefore the spending power of general people tends to decrease in a drastic way
which has an adverse effect on the national economy. According to Marouani & Nilsson
(2016) the government has to provide some benefits for the unemployed population, therefore
the increased rate of unemployment increases the additional government spending to a great
extent. With the reduction in the fund availability, the generated revenue from tax collection
decreases as well, therefore both of these factors have a cumulative impact on the allotted
fiscal budget of the country for welfare of the society. Therefore the tax rates become higher
and there is less flow of capital in the national economy which further encourages borrowings
and debts. However, if people are unemployed, it is difficult for them to repay their debts.
Eventually this increases housing mortgages, deflation or bankruptcy. In addition to that,
inflation follows unemployment as these are two interrelated concepts. Inflation is generally
caused by the alterations in money supply. If the money supply goes higher, prices of
commodities go higher too; this increase in the price level is called inflation. As stated by
Lucas & Verry (2016) with the increasing rate of employment, higher inflation can occur.
Even though the GDP growth and inflation rate did not show any boost, in last few years, the
Malaysian government has taken few effective measures than can curb the significant causes
for inflation.
Conclusion:
In conclusion it can be said that the relationship between increasing unemployment
rate and financial activities needs to be understood mostly in the developing countries like
Malaysia. Therefore the government requires taking steps which can reduce the
unemployment rate such as foreign direct investments. If the government brings more FDI
inflow, it can create more job opportunity within the country. Therefore a huge demand of

5
ACADEMIC WRITING
labour will be required which will eventually lower the unemployment rate. Along with that
it can also advance the existing living standards of the general population in Malaysia.
However, in some cases the foreign investors may have an adverse effect on the domestic
businesses; therefore the government should ensure that the balance is not hampered in
anyway.

6
ACADEMIC WRITING
Reference list
Babar, M. G., Hasan, S. S., Ooi, Y. J., Ahmed, S. I., Wong, P. S., Ahmad, S. F., ... & Malik,
N. A. (2015). Perceived sources of stress among Malaysian dental
students. International journal of medical education, 6, 56.
Cheong, K. C., Hill, C., Fernandez-Chung, R., & Leong, Y. C. (2016). Employing the
‘unemployable’: employer perceptions of Malaysian graduates. Studies in Higher
Education, 41(12), 2253-2270.
Ekpe, I., & Mat, N. (2015). The moderating effect of social environment on the relationship
between entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial intentions of female students
at Nigerian universities.
Hanapi, Z., & Nordin, M. S. (2014). Unemployment among Malaysia graduates: Graduates’
attributes, lecturers’ competency and quality of education. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 112, 1056-1063.
Lucas, R. E., & Verry, D. (2016). Restructuring the Malaysian economy: Development and
human resources. Springer.
Marouani, M. A., & Nilsson, B. (2016). The labor market effects of skill-biased technological
change in Malaysia. Economic Modelling, 57, 55-75.
Mustapha, M., & Selvaraju, M. (2015). PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES, FAMILY
INFLUENCES, ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INCLINATION AMONG UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS. Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies, 33.

7
ACADEMIC WRITING
Shamsudin, S. F. F. B., Al Mamun, A., Nawi, N. B. C., Nasir, N. A. B. M., & Zakaria, M. N.
B. (2017). Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Intention Among The Malaysian
University Students. The Journal of Developing Areas, 51(4), 423-431.