Tragedy of Graduate Unemployment

JOB MISMATCH: Much has been said about graduate unemployment lately but, really, this issue is nothing new. What is new, and disturbing, is the persistent nature of the problem.

In the past, the problem was more cyclical and demand-related in nature, but with the growing job mismatch in the country, it appears now that the problem of unemployment is more structural.

This, however, is inevitable, as the country transforms into a knowledge-based economy. While many factors have been cited as contributors to this problem such as lack of English and communication skills, experience, and analytical and critical-thinking skills, the issue of education and versatility of graduates clearly merits a re-look.

The main impetus to a higher level of development of a country’s economy lies in the general educational achievement of a country’s citizens. It is proven also by statistical data, that educational attainment is one thing and the right preparation for the world of work is quite another.

The ability of students to succeed is determined, not only by the degrees they earn and the number of years that they attend school, but also by the quality and relevance of what they learn to the changing labour market.

Indeed, the employment prospects of graduates are of primary importance, not only to the individual graduates themselves, but also to the country at large.

Granted that spending a number of years at a university should not serve only as a preparation for a job or a career, nevertheless, most faculties have had to continuously reconsider the structure and contents of their courses in order to enhance the employment prospects of their graduates.

But in all fairness, universities are not solely to blame.

To realise or enhance the potential of graduates, industry and university necessarily need to understand better what is happening in each other’s home territory, what needs to be tuned and how this can be achieved through constant consultation, monitoring and adjustment.

Government and the corporate sector should also work in consonance with universities by formulating their own master plans for the next, say 5-10 years, which could go a long way toward helping the latter churn out graduates needed by them.

However, one should be mindful that not all can succeed in the same degree in this regard. This may depend on the course content, at least as perceived by potential employers, and whether a specific faculty services a captive job market or an open job market.

Faculties need to be changed to make their graduates relevant to, and therefore successful in, a competitive market environment.

Thus, the employability of graduates concerns not only the university but also employers, and the necessary interaction between the two must be complementary so that industry must be ready to develop what the university initiates and vice-versa.

“There are a number of reasons for this undesirable situation,” says Mr. A.G.W.Nanayakkara of the Department of Census and Statistics in his presentation captioned - Employment and Unemployment in Sri Lanka: Trends, Issues and Options. He lists few factors.

(i) The age at which they complete the University education.

(ii) Inadequate knowledge of English.

(iii) Reluctance of the private sector employers to recruit graduates, perhaps due to the above two reasons and also due to the misconception that all graduates are radicals, which is totally incorrect

(iv) Reluctance of the graduates to enter the private sector, because of the attitudes of the co-workers, towards them, who are less qualified, but may be more conversant in English.

He adds few suggestions to rectify this situation.

(i) Universities should take in students who qualified to enter as soon as possible, without having to wait for a long period.

(ii) English should be taught, throughout the University career and not just at the beginning of the course as being done at present.

(iii) In addition to the formal subjects, the students may choose for their degree, special modules should also be introduced, which will improve the skills in different subject areas, which are currently in demand.

(iv) Private sector should be encouraged to recruit more graduates. Incentives should be given to private sector organizations, which recruit a specified number of graduates, each year.

(v) Private sector should be encouraged to provide on the job training to undergraduates (may be during the University vacations) so that the students could have some experience in different areas in which they may be interested in and also to get an idea on what the private sector would expect from them.

Whether we agree with all those suggestions or not is a different matter. Yet, ultimately, it is clear that a focused set of actions needs to be taken to resolve the current graduate unemployment problem which is probably one of the key constraints to the long-run growth in our economy.