Earlier, I read the “findings” of JobStreet indicating that many graduates have priced themselves out of the market, i.e. they asked unrealistic starting salaries that potential employers find difficult to match.
This factor was singled out as one of causes of unemployment among graduates. Other factors such as mediocrity, poor command of English and a lack of communication skills are also cited as probable causes.
This morning I read another piece, this time by Mariam Mokhtar, supporting the views put forth by Job Street, i.e. graduates shouldn’t be demanding too much just simply because they were photographed collecting their degrees.
The views expressed above are probably the “mainstream” views today. But I would prefer that we take them with a heavy pinch of salt.
I think it is too simplistic to attribute graduate unemployment to unreasonable salary demands. Unemployment is ultimately an economic phenomenon.
When we produce too many low-quality graduates in an economy experiencing anaemic growth and little real transformation, the upshot is graduate unemployment. There are either no “graduate jobs” available or graduates are not skilled enough to hold the “graduate jobs”.
When graduates are desperate for jobs, I don’t think they can stick to their unrealistic salary demands for long. It is another story if some graduates have rich parents to support them. To me, these people are not even in the job market to begin with.
I believe employers’ willingness to pay is ultimately based on employees’ contributions. When business sentiment is bad, employers may not even want the graduates for free. On the other hand, when there is money to be made, paying a little higher to attract graduates is a natural thing to do.
Correct me if I am wrong, it is my humble opinion that JobStreet may have asked the wrong questions in its survey.
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