KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 13): Malaysia churned out 4.96 million graduates last year, which accounted for 20.3% of the country's working age population, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia's Graduates Statistics 2018 released today.

Graduates' unemployment rate in 2018 fell slightly to 3.9% from 4% in 2017. In terms of numbers, unemployed graduates in Malaysia totalled 162,000.

The Salaries & Wages Survey 2018 conducted by the Statistics Department, meanwhile, found that median monthly salaries and wages of graduates with full-time equivalent principal occupation was higher at RM3,936 last year, compared with RM3,550 in 2017.

Employed graduates in skilled category earned RM4,684, while semi-skilled category received RM2,139.

Graduates refer to individuals aged 15 years and over with the highest certificate obtained from universities, colleges, polytechnics, recognised bodies or equivalent, where duration of study is at least two years.

In a statement today, the Statistics Department said labour force participation rate for graduates increased 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 83.6% last year, encompassing 4.15 million people. Out of this, there were 3.99 million employed graduates, up 8.2% from 3.69 million in 2017.

Overall, the number of employed female graduates in 2018 was marginally higher than male, accounting for 50.4% of the total or 2.01 million people.

"From the viewpoint of age groups, graduates in younger age cohorts of 34 years and below were predominantly female. On the contrary, employed graduates in older age cohorts of 35 years and over comprised more males than females," said the Statistics Department.

Male employed graduates aged 35 to 44 years accounted for 51.8%, while males aged 45 years and over represented 58.9%.

Befitting their qualification, most graduates were employed in the skilled category, which accounted for 73.8% or 2.9 million people. Employed graduates in semi-skilled category comprised 25% or 998,000 people.

Looking at the distribution of employed graduates by economic activity, more than two-thirds (79.7%) were concentrated in the services sector, followed by the manufacturing sector at 12.5%.

Statistics Department chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said more than 70% of unemployed graduates were actively seeking work and were available for work.

"A total of 79.7% of graduates were unemployed for the duration of less than six months, followed by 11.9% which were unemployed between six months and less than a year. Long term unemployment that is those who were unemployed for a period of over a year accounted for 8.4%," he added.

Meanwhile, 16.4% or 811,800 of total graduates were outside labour force last year compared with 16.7% or 769,100 in 2017.

The department noted that 34.5% were due to housework or family responsibility. Those who are attending school or training programme made up 30.5%, followed by reasons of retirement or old age (27.8%).

"Graduates are the enabler of innovation and productivity that will lead the country to achieve sustainable growth. To realise this, it is essential that all parties assess the supply aspects and employability of graduates in Malaysia," said Mohd Uzir.