US$700 ‘an excessive amount of’ to ask: What’s maintaining the beginning pay of Malaysia’s recent graduates low? | USAEMALL.com

Arulkumar said that this would mean integrating employer input into curriculum development and promoting modular, industry-relevant learning that reflects evolving workforce demands. 

“Internships should be more meaningful and structured, ensuring they provide genuine work exposure and act as a clear transition pathway into full-time employment,” he said.

Besides preparing graduates to be work-ready, experts also highlighted the need for structural economic reforms to generate high-value jobs and drive sustainable wage growth. 

Sharifah, who is also a freelance recruiter at A Job Thing, said that Malaysia needs to “aggressively develop” high-impact industry ecosystems by doubling down on initiatives like the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030).

NIMP 2030, announced in 2023, is a seven-year industrial policy for the manufacturing and manufacturing-related services sector. Some of its key goals include growing employment by 20 per cent to create 3.3 million new jobs. 

“By attracting investment in future-forward sectors, such as semiconductors, clean energy and biotechnology, we can generate a pipeline of well-paying, high-skilled jobs that local graduates can actually fill,” Sharifah told CNA. 

Besides creating more high-skilled jobs, HR expert Arulkumar said that the government should introduce targeted incentives such as wage subsidies or hiring grants for employers who take in fresh graduates for high-skilled roles. 

Sharifah said that this type of grant should be tied to measurable outcomes such as wage growth and workforce upskilling in order to ensure that the support goes to companies driving real progress, “not just those expanding numbers on paper”. 

“Malaysia must prioritise industrial upgrading by promoting sectors with higher value-add and innovation to boost demand for skilled talent,” Arulkumar added. 

Authors of the “Gaji Cukup Makan” report have also proposed that the government introduce advisory wage guidelines to address wage suppression. 

Arulkumar said that while such guidelines can be helpful to establish baseline expectations for fresh graduate salaries, especially in high-cost urban areas where living expenses are significantly higher, the guidelines must be flexible and non-prescriptive to avoid distorting market dynamics and discourage hiring.

“For them to be effective, they should be sector-specific and reflect actual graduate capabilities and job complexity rather than being solely based on academic qualifications,” he said. 

“While wages should largely be shaped by market forces, well-designed advisory guidelines, complemented by broader industrial upgrading, can help to ensure a fairer and more transparent transition into the workforce for young talent.”