The surveys that were passed out to the targeted group show that 70% of the people surveyed feel that the unemployment rate in Malaysia is severe. The impact of a high unemployment is that many people will be out of work.
There are few factors that causes high unemployment rate. Graduates nowadays have "high" expectations such as high salaries and a minimum workload. They want a nice working environment with little immobility. Secondly, the courses pursued by the graduates are not relevant. Therefore they do not have the skills knowledge to take up the job. Thirdly, some companies do expect graduates to have a minimal working experience. They do not want new graduates because they need to teach them some rules in the corporate world.
There are advantages when the unemployment rate is high. Workers that are being retrenched will start to value things around them and allocating their resources to maximize efficiency, spend their money wisely by expelling bad habits such as cutting down on unnecessary expenses. People can also spend more time with their family while some will take this opportunity to get a higher qualification in education which increase their value. Unemployment tends to increase self-employment which could grow into a successful business that might help he economy in the future. However, there are also many disadvantages to the public. The total aggregate demand of the Malaysia will decrease because the purchasing power is not there as all the goods are facing inflation. This will cause supply to decrease as well, forcing producers to reduce their scale and lay off unneeded workers, increasing unemployment. People cannot afford their monthly expense and might turn to illegal acts. Over time, more people will face depression and decide to commit suicide.
Weighing the advantages and disadvantages, the general public would most probably choose to be employed as the disadvantages of being unemployed is too negative to the economy.
Based on the survey, 80% Malaysians are not aware of the current unemployment rate in Malaysia. The impact of not being aware would be that they would not know what to prepare when joining the labour force after graduation.
The factors that might have caused the low awareness of the unemployment rate is because young Malaysians nowadays do not read the newspapers, business or economics related magazines or even watch the news because they only focus on games and social media which seldom reveal facts about the labour market or the economy.
The advantage of being unaware of the current unemployment rate is that one does not need to have unnecessary stress before even facing the problem. Malaysians can spend more time things that like to do, then stressed out and start researching on the issue. However, there are disadvantages to this because when the problem arises, they are not prepared. This will make some of them lost and depressed, get out of tracks or even succumb consider increasing their skills or to increase competitiveness which could benefit them regardless of the job.
However, even though there are the good and bad side to being aware of the unemployment rate in Malaysia, it seems that most people still choose to ignore instead and will regret when the time comes.
From the survey, half of the candidates chose bad, while the other half chose average when asked whether the government is doing a good job in aiding the unemployment rate. The impacts to the bad response of the government's actions are that the people's impression of the government has deteriorated.
The factors that might have caused the public tom think like this could be because the government's business plan might not be effective enough in creating a substantial change in the unemployment rate.
Even though this might sound absurd but there are advantages when the public's opinion of the government deteriorates. If the Malaysian government is aware of this. they are forced to strive harder and come out with better plans that will help the economy. They might even ask for the public's opinion which will please the public as their voices are being heard. However, there are more disadvantages such as the people's trust in the government is decreasing and they will question the true intentions and potential of the government. Secondly, investors might have no confident to invest in Malaysia because they do not believe that the government could maintain a favourable economy which is needed for investing. Lastly, it will be hard for Malaysia to borrow money from other countries as they are afraid that the Malaysian government might not be able to repay the loan or even declare bankrupt before repaying.
It is obvious that the Malaysian government would prefer if they look good to the citizen and other countries as it brings benefits and will therefore try to make themselves look better by putting forth new plans.
In a scenario with high unemployment, most people would choose to have multiple jobs. There are other options such as accepting a lower pay job, furthering their studies and others.
The factors that causes other people to prefer having multiple jobs is because they feel that having multiple jobs is better than having insufficient income because high unemployment leads to inflation implying that people would need ore money to cover their daily expenses.
Having multiple jobs makes sure that the purchasing power of a person could be maintained or at least it would be enough to survive. Having multiple jobs ensures that the additional income earned could help cover autonomous consumptions. It also increased and expands one's knowledge and skills, making one's resume more appealing as there is more experience. time is also spent wisely as the multiple jobs are increasing the person's productivity. Multiple jobs might also enable a thrifty person to save some money in the bank for those rainy days. However, there are disadvantages to having multiple jobs such as lack of sleep for those who works a few shift daily. People with multiple jobs often are part time employees and their jobs are not as secure as permanent or full time employees. Lastly, people with multiple jobs have to sacrifice time with their family and friends.
For most people, survival is most important. Therefore, the public will prefer having multiple jobs rather than stay unemployed.
Base on the survey collected, 60% of the graduates interviewed thinks that the main determinant on Malaysia's rising unemployment rate is that graduates have high expectations from a company, whereas 20% goes to the lack of ability to communicate and market yourself well and the other 30% split equally among the remaining two options. The impact on the graduates who have high expectations is that it will be hard for them to get a job because they expect a high pay and a good job that can come to them so easily.
One of the main factors causing this is due to the mindset of the fresh graduates. They are the generation that "wants it all and "want it now" - good pay, benefits, rapid career, advancement, work-life harmony, interesting and meaningful work. (Aisanewsnet.net, 1999) It could also be because most people nowadays are spoon fed by their parents, believing that everything comes easy in life, hence they don't expect themselves to earn money the tough way. This is not a good thing as employers don't welcome employees with these attitudes and it will be hard for them to get a job, thus causing an increase in unemployment.
The disadvantage to this is that if the fresh graduates continues to have this mindset and are not willing to change, they will have to search harder to get a job with their specifications, which is nearly impossible. Also, if they are unemployed for long, they lose the opportunity to start from a low position and work their way up during the time they wasted looking for the so-called 'perfect' job they pictured. But there are also advantages to having high expectations. When they actually find their 'perfect' job, people with high expectations that have been unemployed for some time wile searching for their 'perfect' job will appreciate their job more and give their best as they have worked so that to find that job. This might be favourable to employers, making them feel that they have made the right decision and it is worth it to employ that particular person for they show excellent results.
In response to the impact, graduates might want to search longer for their 'perfect' job rather than taking a job that doesn't meet their expectations.
