Mismatch in qualifications and skills leads to sluggish job market, study says

[ad_1]

JAKARTA (ANTARA) – About 46% of companies in Indonesia have difficulty finding suitable job seekers despite high unemployment rates, research shows. According to Statistics Indonesia, the number of unemployed people in the country reached 7.2 million in February 2024.

Research conducted by Populix and job portal KitaLulus shows that this is due to the difference between the skills, qualifications and experience required by employers and those available in the workforce.

An analysis of 1 million job seeker and employer records on KitaLulus showed that the higher the level of education required, the greater the gap, Vivi Zabkie, head of social research at Populix, revealed in a press release on Saturday.

The survey also showed that most job seekers in Indonesia lack sufficient experience, skills and education levels expected by employers.

About 50% of employers said job seekers’ technical skills are still low, while 35% said job seekers’ soft skills are not good enough.

At the same time, there is an imbalance between employers’ educational requirements and applicants’ educational qualifications.

Job seekers complained that it was too difficult to find a job. When asked to rate the difficulty of finding a job, they gave an average score of 5.02 (out of a possible 10).

Challenges faced by job seekers include work experience requirements (63% of respondents), high educational requirements (58%) and age limits (53%).

“The number of job seekers does not match the number of job openings available in terms of educational requirements,” Zabki said.

Only 16% of job openings are for people with a bachelor’s degree, while 19% are for people with a graduate degree.

Meanwhile, KitaLulus co-founder Stevien Jimmy said his company is trying to help by offering an AI-based feature to recommend the best candidates for the roles offered by employers.

He added that job seekers complained that the experience and education requirements were too high and that competition was fierce.

The study covered 1,330 job seekers, 530 employers and 100 companies and analyzed 1 million records from KitaLulus. The data collection was conducted in June.

[ad_2]

Source link