Obstacles to employability skills training programs in Malaysia from the perspectives of employers', educators' and graduates' perspective

• Main Author: Mohd Puad, Mohd Hazwan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Human Resource Management Academic Research Society 2018
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/14658/1/14658.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/14658/; http://hrmars.com/index.php/papers/detail/IJARBSS/4792
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

Over the last two decades, employability skills training programs initiated by the Malaysian government and agencies are an essential strategy to improve the skills of the workforce and minimize unemployment. However, stakeholders seem perplexed about the direction and attainment of the training programs. There are raising concerns whether employability skills training programs are designed and offered properly in improving workers’ skills and securing unemployed workers’ employment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of educators, employers, and recent graduates regarding the contributing factors that impede the progress of employability skills training programs. The theoretical framework for this quantitative study was based on Human Capital Theory. A survey questionnaire contains qualitative component questions was developed to gather feedback from employers, educators, and graduates from the central economic region of the west coast of peninsular Malaysia. The findings of this study revealed the major obstacles to effective employability skills training programs in the workforce of Malaysia, such as unclear objectives and direction of training programs, negative attitudes of recent graduates, and inactive involvement of employers in local workforce education and training. These obstacles will be a key area to be assessed and improved in program evaluation.