Stop Thinking That Unemployment Is Simply the Result of Low Education or Skills – It Is a Structural Problem

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misbahulalam
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Stop Thinking That Unemployment Is Simply the Result of Low Education or Skills – It Is a Structural Problem

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“ 10 skills needed by employment, let's learn! ” “ Improve skills for a brilliant career! ” “Success at work is in your hands!” Job applicants or recent graduates must often be offered such jargon in order to achieve their dream career and avoid unemployment. Apart from the pandemic factor, many parties including practitioners and the public believe that the main cause of unemployment is what is called a " skills mismatch ". This is interpreted as a mismatch of skills on the part of job applicants – either perceived as lacking in expertise or having skills that are different from the needs of the job market. The narrative of skills mismatch , or some people use the term " employability " (potential applicants to be recruited), is now increasingly being used in both developing and developed countries to explain the issue of unemployment.

International institutions such as the World Bank or the Phone Number List
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) even diligently promote this concept. While honing skills is beneficial, and even though skills mismatch sounds plausible – that many workers do not have the right skills, this results in low recruitment rates – this concept does not fully explain the issue of unemployment. In August 2022, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that unemployment in Indonesia reached 8.42 million people. This figure increased by around 200 thousand people from the previous six months. But interestingly, this figure is dominated by Vocational High School (SMK) graduates – who should have been equipped with special vocational skills for the world of work. Instead of explaining, this single narrative of skills mismatch has the potential to place job applicants, especially those from poor and marginalized groups, in an increasingly vulnerable position and continue to reap stigma.

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On the other hand, bad corporate practices continue to be normalized. 'Low skills' as the scapegoat for unemployment: why it's a myth First , skills mismatch tends to individualize unemployment issues . That is, unemployment seems to occur solely because job applicants are deemed not to have the skills according to employment opportunities – not because of limited decent employment opportunities. In this narrative, if job vacancies are limited, individuals are then required to become entrepreneurs. In Indonesia, recently, many companies have been busy terminating their employees. Many start-ups that are predicted to be a form of economic innovation to open up new jobs have instead been trapped under financial pressure. The recent layoffs are predicted to continue in 2023.
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