Malaysia’s unemployment rate may have fallen to 2.9%, but a significant number of tertiary-educated workers remain in roles below their qualification level, highlighting a wider gap between being employed and actually progressing in a career.
Data from the first quarter of 2026 showed 1.93 million tertiary-educated workers, or 35.2%, were employed in semi-skilled or low-skilled roles, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
The University of Manchester said the figures point to the need to look beyond employment rates and focus on whether workers are moving into higher-skilled and more complex roles.
“We need to shift the conversation from employability to career mobility. Being employed is not the same as progressing,” said Lim Bee Ing, Centre Director of The University of Manchester South East Asia Centre.
“For experienced professionals in Malaysia, progression increasingly requires the ability to lead across functions, make strategic decisions and navigate change. Purposeful postgraduate education can help build those capabilities.”
The university said experience alone does not necessarily translate into career progression, particularly when workers remain within the same scope of responsibilities without taking on more complex challenges.
It also pointed to growing demand for professionals who can combine communication and strategic thinking with data, technology and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Career progression, it said, should also be measured beyond salary, including movement into higher-skilled roles, greater decision-making responsibility, regional or international opportunities and the ability to lead more complex projects.
The university’s latest MBA employment report found 59% of its 2024 class changed sector while 27% changed country, industry and job function, suggesting career mobility increasingly involves moving across fields and markets rather than simply climbing within an existing role.
“Experience alone does not guarantee progress,” the university said, arguing that Malaysia’s next challenge is to turn employment into sustained career development that makes fuller use of workers’ skills.
