When a Degree No Longer Guarantees a Better Life
Aden Nagrace 29 May 2025

A recent study by a labour market research group has laid bare a sobering reality — many Malaysian graduates are earning just enough to survive.

The report, titled “The ‘Gaji Cukup Makan’ Economy: When Higher Education Becomes an Economic Risk”, challenges the long-held belief that a university degree guarantees a meaningful wage premium or a pathway to a better life.

According to the findings by Future Studies Berhad, the assumption that tertiary education automatically secures a prosperous future is increasingly being dismantled by data. For many young Malaysians, especially those from low- and middle-income families, this promise is falling apart.

And the findings are not just eye-opening — they are heart-breaking.

Despite Malaysia’s consistently high graduate employability rates — often cited as exceeding 80 per cent — the numbers are misleading. These statistics include all forms of employment, even those unrelated to one’s qualifications, field of study, or income expectations.

Let’s look at the facts:

- Over 70 per cent of employed graduates are working in semi-skilled or low-skilled jobs, often far removed from their academic training.
- More than 65 per cent of degree holders earn below RM3,000 a month — barely enough to sustain themselves, let alone support a household or save for the future.

Let that sink in. After years of attending lectures, sitting for exams, completing unpaid internships, accumulating student debt, and making countless personal sacrifices, a significant number of graduates are receiving little more than subsistence-level wages.

This isn’t merely an economic issue — it’s a wake-up call.

The report warns of a steady decline in the return on investment in higher education. What was once viewed as a gateway to upward mobility has, for many, become a high-cost, high-risk pursuit with diminishing returns.

Understandably, more and more parents are starting to ask the hard questions: Is a university education still worth it? And for the first time in generations, the answer is no longer an automatic yes.

Where Did We Go Wrong?

Future Studies Berhad identifies several root causes behind this troubling trend:

- Stagnant wage growth in key industries,
- A limited appetite for high-skilled workers, particularly in the private sector,
- Outdated recruitment models that place little value on specialised knowledge, and
- A glaring gap between academic learning and real-world employability.

The result? Many graduates today start their careers earning salaries not much higher than those with only SPM qualifications. Worse, their career progression is slow — if it happens at all. Many find themselves underemployed, working in positions that neither challenge them nor fully utilise their skills.

This, in turn, leads to disillusionment, reduced self-confidence, and, increasingly, a desire to seek greener pastures abroad. Brain drain is no longer a theory. It’s a consequence of systemic failure.

Skills Beyond Books

In light of these findings, one thing is clear—academic excellence alone is no longer enough. Today’s students must also develop soft skills, adaptability, and entrepreneurial thinking to remain competitive.

Discipline, the right attitude, and commitment are key. A degree may open the door, but it is a graduate’s character, mindset, and initiative that determine whether they will be seen as an asset to an employer — or overlooked entirely.

Those with a strong skill set and business acumen may even choose to create their path by starting a business or offering freelance services. This shift from job-seeking to job-creating mindsets should be encouraged and supported.

A Systemic Overhaul

The report calls for bold and urgent reforms:

- Stop hiding behind inflated employability statistics; instead, publish real data on underemployment and income levels.
- Redesign internship programmes to offer meaningful, skill-based experiences that bridge education and employment.
- Invest in job redesign and industrial upgrading to stimulate demand for high-skilled roles.
- Introduce wage advisory guidelines to correct stagnation and compression.
- Align education with labour market needs by adopting a holistic, outcome-oriented approach that prioritises both relevance and resilience.

In short, we must completely rethink the education-to-employment pipeline. It’s no longer enough to produce graduates — we must prepare future-ready professionals.

Sarawak’s Bold Move

Against this bleak national backdrop, Sarawak stands out with a game-changing decision.

Starting next year, the Sarawak government will offer free tertiary education at all state-owned institutions of higher learning. This landmark move, if implemented fully and inclusively, has the potential to lighten the financial load on thousands of families and encourage more Sarawakians to pursue higher education.

Hopefully, the policy will cover all programmes and not just selected fields. Done right, it could democratise access to education and ensure that no capable student is left behind due to financial barriers.

More importantly, it could restore public confidence in the promise of education as a true equaliser.

The Road Ahead

While Sarawak deserves commendation for its bold initiative, the federal government must also rise to the occasion. There is an urgent need to revisit graduate salary benchmarks to reflect both market demand and the rising cost of living.

Let’s be frank — if we continue to undervalue our brightest minds, we risk losing them altogether. The frustration will grow, and the trust in our institutions will erode.

We can no longer sell the narrative that a degree guarantees a better life without fixing the system behind it. Otherwise, we’re not just failing our youth — we’re jeopardising the future of our nation.

It’s time to reset our expectations and reform our institutions. Higher education, while not a silver bullet, can still be a powerful tool for upward mobility — if supported by the right policies, opportunities, and investments.

Our graduates deserve more than just survival. They deserve the opportunity to thrive.

Source: https://www.sarawaktribune.com/when-a-degre...-a-better-life/

Ini cerita basi la， macam our brain drain issues

The government won't do it because it will hurt the Taukeh

The Taukeh won't do it because we'll they want to go Europe every month

2000 graduate salary RM2k
2025 graduate salary RM2k

Even blind also can see the problem but the government cannot?

no such thing as GUARANTEE bodoh

meanwhile we have a population that didn't attend SPM + failed everything in SPM

that say they're better off looking for job at SG

my wife with degree holder still at 1.9k salary very sadding one

heard reform word since dunno when ady

u pumping out thousands of grads with questionable quality now u suprize pikachu they can't find job/low salary?

This post has been edited by DarkAeon: May 29 2025, 10:11 AM

Sunway, Inti and colleges associations will rage...

Have interviewed many degree holders that are not even up to any level of competency. So yes, a degree doesn't guarantee anything.

ade degree tapi malas macam mana?plus tu uni tak laku. esok besok lusa MC

having degree doesnt mean u r smart or anything, it just shows tht u r capable of learning

skill issue maybe. cukur I dont have problem with this but some of my friend are

student must be taught also how to sell their expertise. no point learn so much but then cant utilize their skill on field

toilet paper just give opportunity
and no such thing as guarantee

x akan u bring around ivy league first class toilet paper then ppl will give shit load of salary without doing anything


and..dont study shit course or almost 0 job opportunity for your place/area/country

This post has been edited by fantasy1989: May 29 2025, 10:20 AM

Degree but can't even speak properly during interview.
GG

Don't forget, rather work gig job grab,food panda shopee than SPM/Degree

25 years ago arleady like that, no?

sooner or later bangla taking minimum salary also on par with degree holder because???

Madani keep on giving tongkat
gaji rendah? naikkan minimum gaji je

get back old days, u get better education, you talk common sense.
now reverse balik, internet are destroy human slowly.

This post has been edited by wong_86: May 29 2025, 10:26 AM

Keep only the top IPTAs n convert the rest to TVET.
Admission based on merit not R&R.
Offer degrees which have market demand.
Improve teaching quality, not those who like to take MC, maternity or always absent.

Meanwhile -- more n more producing university graduate yearly --- one position (junior business executive) --- 450 people apply, meanwhile -- we're moving towards similar like Indonesia and Philippines and Thailand, ke era maju !

Back then how many percent degree holder now how many percent degree holder
Simple market forces demand and supply

Those SPM pun fail x hadir really gg

non critical thinking fresh graduates
who wants to hire a replaceable human robot?

if a lot of married
that means single guy should've more market right

no need sooner or later
bang;a won't be taking minimum salary, they're now earning more than your average malaysians
if they're forced to take minimum wage, they would be going back to their home country in flocks

all the minimum wage job u saw in malaysia are all occupied by locals

Probably vocational training or study is a better option.

kabel > degree

nowadays education is like a business to them already, janji earn money

like look at the uni/colleges where theyre churning out degrees for courses like Liberal Arts, Gender Studies etc

Yes, means can read, write, count, use computer and other things a normal human being can do.

Basically just certified what a 16 yo can do at a age of 23-24 yo.

I tell you what’s the real problem,

MC, relative mati non stop and kahwin non stop, don’t use brain think, English subpar level, graduate but knowledge worse , ASBON parents

baru grad. mau gaji cukup untuk support household.

buat lah survey salary 5 years after grad. baru nampak average grad uni tu berkualiti ke tak.

govt should increase minimum wage

This

no degree will guarantee anything.

when i first came out to work, my salary is only rm 1.8k

This

Yes continue the batching. Now pikachu surprised degree does not guarantee a matching job matching graduate salary a better life. Lol

All those grow on trees for plucking?

Menteri Ekonomy mana Employers mana, dah lama tidur

This post has been edited by jojolicia: May 29 2025, 11:00 AM

Instead of focusing resources into more specialized courses. Lets churn out more degree holder. Saturate the market more will solve oversaturation problem

It's like saying beta male cannot get girls Liao
have to be muka hensem muscular make lot of money and mulut pemanis but won't curang

This post has been edited by -mystery-: May 29 2025, 10:56 AM

Too many sampah unis nowdays

inb4 there are no sampah uni only sampah people

How many years ago that?

This problem is created by over-saturation of degree graduates. For kids finishing SPM, now would be a good time to learn more hands on kind of M&E jobs like plumbing, electrical and civil engineering.

How many years ago was that.

This post has been edited by Drian: May 29 2025, 11:07 AM

but if one become mca macai confirmed sohai one

we got a good example here

when water down the level of Malaysia education, well turns into what Phillipine education is, same situation in the early 2000, even Phd is only like Diploma level standard, nothing ground breaking. You want phd to your title go to Pinoyland

This post has been edited by Avex: May 29 2025, 11:12 AM

one is quality.
another is subject matter.

generic business degrees or hotel management diploma....
those are not really specialist in any sense....

Degree is a door to better life.

electrical and plumbing actually making good money

only that less glamour

I panggil my usual aircond man for chemical cleaning service also he declined politely saying schedule full next week baru free

then call that big ac USJ company also full, next two week baru free

knn...

Depends degree from which uni and what course u took.

U take cap ayam course or course nobody will hire la

Then degree from cap ayam uni, lagi lah people won't hire

Most of all is your soft skills, u got good degree but during interview can't talk properly can't conduct yourself properly lagilah won't hire.

If know yourself bodoh best go learn skills, get a diploma, go be an officer or operator, don't dream sit office press pen la unless u promote to manager.

depends from which uni and what course u take

the rest depends on your luck

better to become influencers. act like pondans and enter female toilet gets more attention and fame.

See which industry also....

If after graduate and work in a private pre-school environment sure starting pay will be at national minimum wages

yalor
someone

Not all door are the same , some small door and some door very hard to open and some door even got special entrance with red carpet welcoming you

well that's true
bangla rajin unlike tongkat puak yo

The results of producing devalued and under qualified graduate.

ada dedikasi ada better life

rajin is useless if their end result is half past 6
bangla is more lazier than you think they are....they're prolly the laziest group and most entitled group i've seen

and they're also not gonna accept low wages no matter what...unlike locals

bangla marry malay awek become boss
hire malay and pay minimum wages to them

That's happen when you suggest extend your retirement age.

Its true degree doesn't make u success guaranteed but it makes u not suck in life. Imagine u don't even have spm and ur from b40 family, your father not rich to handover a business to u, what r u going to do in life.

Degree is the easiest path to make u survive in this world. At worst, u end up having a stressful job than become homeless and still need parent support u

This post has been edited by hellothere131495: May 29 2025, 11:49 AM

bawak grabfood, later upgrade to grabcar

degree means nothing if u got no skills to back it up. these days when even assignment need to rely on AI, how to understand the subject. Even before AI, many student just wanted to memorize the content of the subject without understanding the context of the courses.

It's like saying being married has to guarantee a successful life

Actually, if you compared degree holder and those people who either only finish SPM or not having SPM, the mindset is different. In college or university, apart from studying to get the certs, it also a medium on how to open the minds and communicating more effectively with other people/races/nationalities. It's break the typical race mentality border where this in turn makes the degree holder much more desirable.

Belum see influx of Robot and and Ai yet on a full scale

What course? Degree of folding roti chanai?

Need to look it from another way also, not having a degree makes you below average when everyone else have it.

Salah AI

Degree apa dan dari mana?
Kerja kat mana?

computer forensic from msu, she had experience working in IT department in her state but since she didnt have experience in city state such as KL nor Selangor, it took me and her 2 years to look for a job with salary minimum 2.5k.

then i just cincai the salary, landed her admin job with salary at 1.9k as a start

What is computer forensic?

IT need exp to demand higher salary. IT forensic kind of niche market where the job demand not that high, thus the demand for the roles not many.

basically cybercrime, what we learned were malaysia laws and basic IT like the rest of IT programs, we just dont delve deep into IT category but more into law and order side.

yup, we came into agreement where she will just strive on office management work such admin and so forth.

but without degree even worse.

HR double standard lowball salary if no degree

uni of cyberj ?

how about getting some cert like cyber security to enhance her IT forensic knowledge. IT forensics and IT security works well together in the market.

oh wait...so getting a marriage cert is way more superior than being single?

Came across a lady degree holder, cannot find jobs, ended up working as beautician (facial) also earning bare minimum. Ended up now stay at home mom and taking care of other kids to supplement household income.

wad degree and from where?

lady become influencer
that's trend of today market

As an example: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-math...-tab=review-tab

Problem is other than RMP's cyber unit/division (bahagian jenayah siber), not sure if there is a demand for something like this in Malaysia

what kind of influencer do they become? jiggle2 on tiktok?

sing at bigo, wait simps donate u money

i would openly encourage her that but i think she gave up IT course entirely after like, 2/3 years of her office work nowadays

This is my opinion: education and learning will definitely lead to a better life. But listen carefully — it is learning and education, not merely a degree. While a degree may be a specific subset of education, learning and education is the broader domain.

Without education, people resort to ignorance or brute force to survive. Take a farmer, for instance. If he doesn’t understand pest control or fertilization, how can he grow his crops well? The vegetables will be eaten by pests before harvest, or the crops may die from nutrient deficiency. Without knowledge, he suffers — relying only on hard labor and guesswork. But if he is educated, he can use pesticides or deterrent technologies to manage pests effectively.
This principle applies to all fields: before one can contribute professionally or productively, practical knowledge is essential.

Our society overemphasizes white-collar jobs, which offer only 20–30% of the total employment opportunities. Yet, more than half the generation chases after these "glamorous" professions — doctor, lawyer, accountant, architect, engineer, finance, energy (O&G), etc. Meanwhile, professions deemed “less glamorous” — agriculture, fisheries, forestry, elderly care, childcare, clerical work, technicians, cleaners, factory operators, security, service staff — are widely avoided, as if they lack any future.

This is similar to a well-known social observation: most women pursue the top 10% of men. It’s a repeating pattern. Everyone wants to be seen as smart and capable. Who wants to admit they are "bodoh" (stupid) for choosing a less glamorous path? So naturally, families forcefully send their children to pursue degrees that supposedly open doors to white-collar jobs. But the end result? The job market can only absorb about 30% of the graduates into white-collar roles. What happens to the rest? They’re left with no choice but to downgrade their expectations — either shifting away from white-collar sectors or doing something unrelated.

No — a degree doesn’t guarantee a better life. But without one, you may not even get a chance to enter that competitive space. It’s just that, in reality, those who end up on the losing end lost out due to competition, not because education failed.

Meanwhile, the ignored sectors? Nobody bats an eye at the worker shortages in 3D jobs — dirty, dangerous, and difficult. Every day, industry players complain that locals don’t want these jobs. So how do we fill the gap? By relying on foreign workers.

This is a natural flow of societal behavior. Just like 90% of women chase the top 10% of men, 90% of undergraduates chase the top 30% of white-collar jobs. The result? Oversupply at the top, and severe neglect at the bottom.

~

If I were to reverse this set of thinking -

If can't find local workers for 3R, then we rely on foreign workers as solution,
If can't find your partner locally = perhaps looking for foreign life partner maybe an answer to those still searching ? Think about it.

For most junior white collar jobs, academic grade is still a useful (not perfect) predictor of a person's ability to do the job.

Stop the narrative that academic grades are not important

This post has been edited by ja836kyau: May 29 2025, 01:23 PM

UTM some management courses

How old is she? if still young then can go to other environment. Normally IT can be integrated with others area as well that might be not really related to IT. IT is versatile where u can use your knowledge anywhere applicable. Just need a strong mindset to change the working culture.

early 30s. I know but again i dont wanna force her into this since she is already comfortable with the current job.