THE youth are wrongly perceived as being choosy and demanding too much in starting wages, said a government-linked think tank which has unveiled the findings of the largest ever survey of young workers.

Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) interviewed more than 23,000 young people aged 15 to 29 and found that there was a severe mismatch between skills employers wanted and what the schools were teaching.

The findings of the KRI report have shed light on why the youth unemployment rate is about three times higher than the national unemployment rate.

Visiting senior fellow at KRI Dr Lim Lin Lean said that most of the respondents in unskilled and low-skilled jobs are “over-educated” and many are employed in fields unrelated to their educational background.

The survey finds that 95% of young workers in unskilled jobs and 50% in low skilled, non-manual jobs are over-educated.

At the same time, a high salary is the fourth most important consideration for the youth, the most important being work-life balance, followed by job security and interesting scope of work.

The study also debunked the oft-repeated claim that Malaysians will not do 3D [dirty, dangerous and demeaning] jobs but were willing to cross into Singapore to do them.

“They do not want these jobs (in Malaysia) because the pay is low but they are willing to go to Singapore for them because of higher wages,” said Lim, when launching the study titled “School to work transition of young Malaysians”.  

Our survey found that the perception that young people are choosy about their jobs is false. Youth cannot be choosy when most in unskilled and low-skilled jobs are over-educated, Lim said.

The survey also found that contrary to claims by employer associations, many young workers are settling for wages lower than their “reservation wage” – the level of pay below which they would decline a job.

Many young people, particularly those in part-time and contributing family work, earn below their reservation wage so as to have jobs, the study found.       

For young workers, the reservation wage is RM1,555 per month and RM1,715 for job seekers.

“The data does not support the notion that young people have ‘unrealistic wage expectations’ and are ‘asking for too much’,” Lim said.

Employers groups have been frequently quoted as claiming that young job seekers and fresh graduates have “unrealistic expectations” or are “too choosy”.

Bosses have also alleged that there is a skill mismatch between what companies demand and what young workers can provide.

Lim said Malaysian schools and training institutions emphasise academic and professional qualifications but employers are more interested in soft skills and work experience.

“This is something that our education system needs to address as there is not enough focus given to the development of communication skills and ‘learning-to-learn skills’.   

The difference in perceptions between employers and workers, said Lim, could be due to how the data is gathered in the surveys among employers. 

“The media has carried reports about young people being choosy and a lot of that information that we are concerned about comes from online surveys. In our own experience we did our survey both online and face to face,” Lim said when presenting the report.

“We didn’t use our results from the online surveys because of the poor response. So the question is, how representative are these results, whether they are from employers, organisations, or employment services?”   – December 12, 2018.