NOVEMBER 21 — Malaysia’s labour market tells a story that is both encouraging and sobering. In 2024, the number of university and college graduates reached nearly six million. The official unemployment rate among them fell to 3.2 per cent, a modest improvement from the year before. Almost five million graduates now hold jobs, and more than 60 per cent of fresh graduates find work within three months of leaving campus. On paper, the system appears to be working.

Yet beneath these headline numbers lies a deeper, more persistent problem. The Labour Force Statistics Q3 reported that more than one in three employed degree and diploma holders (roughly 1.96 million people) are working in jobs that require only low or semi-skilled labour. They drive ride-hailing cars, staff retail counters, or perform routine administrative tasks that do not draw on the knowledge they spent years and considerable money acquiring. The economy is creating jobs, but it is not creating enough jobs that match the capabilities graduates were trained to offer.

This is not primarily a story of lazy youth or inadequate effort. It is a story of mismatched incentives and mismatched curricula. Traditional universities, for all their virtues, still allocate the overwhelming share of teaching time to theory and abstract knowledge. Students master principles of finance, engineering, or social science in lecture halls, yet many arrive at their first interview unable to operate the industry-standard software, interpret real-world data sets, or collaborate effectively in the messy, deadline-driven environments that companies actually inhabit. Employers, quite rationally, choose candidates who can contribute from day one rather than candidates who must be taught, at the firm’s expense, how to contribute.

The historical mission of the great universities from Oxford to Al-Azhar, was to cultivate thinkers who could reason deeply about philosophy, law, and theology. That mission remains noble and necessary; every society needs a small cadre of genuine innovators and researchers. But the modern Malaysian economy, like most modern economies, runs on skilled executors far more than on pure theorists. We need accountants who can close the books accurately using the actual tools companies use, engineers who can troubleshoot on a factory floor, marketers who can read customer analytics, and technicians who can maintain the robots and solar arrays that will power tomorrow’s growth. 

Most of these roles reward applied competence more than abstract brilliance. Evidence from the labour market itself shows how individuals adapt when the formal system falls short. Countless graduates discover, often by accident or necessity, that the analytical habits and discipline acquired during their studies can be redirected. A finance graduate becomes an insurance underwriter, a psychology student pivots into human-resources technology, a literature major learns digital marketing on the job and thrives. These success stories are heartening, yet they also reveal a wasteful detour: years and ringgit spent acquiring one set of credentials, only to acquire a second set informally later. Society pays twice. A more efficient path is already emerging. In 2024 more than half of all secondary-school leavers chose technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes over traditional academic streams. 

It is the first time TVET has claimed the majority. These students are learning welding, programmable logic controllers, advanced manufacturing, hospitality management, and green-energy installation, precisely the competencies that employers advertise daily. Many TVET graduates earn competitive starting salaries, and some later add a degree if they wish, blending practical mastery with theoretical depth in the sequence that the labour market actually rewards.

This shift is not an argument against university education; it is an argument for honest diversity in education. A society that funnels nearly everyone toward the same theory-heavy credential inevitably produces an oversupply of abstract thinkers and an undersupply of skilled doers. When the inevitable mismatch occurs, wages stagnate, frustration rises, and public confidence in higher education erodes.

Policymakers can accelerate the correction that the market is already signalling. Expand high-quality TVET places, tie university curricula far more tightly to documented industry needs, reward institutions for employment outcomes rather than enrolment numbers, and celebrate applied careers as enthusiastically. Most important, give young Malaysians clear, respected choices at age seventeen instead of the implicit message that only one path (the degree path) confers dignity.

Human capital is still the most powerful engine of prosperity any nation possesses. Malaysia has invested heavily in it for decades. The next step is to invest more intelligently: not more years in the same kind of classroom, but the right kind of training for the largest number of citizens. When education aligns with the actual structure of opportunity, both individuals and the economy flourish together. The data, and the lived experience of millions of graduates, tell us the time for that realignment is now.

* Dr Diana Abdul Wahab is a senior lecturer from the Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, and may be reached at diana.abdwahab@um.edu.my 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.