Employment Trends of COVID-19 Graduates: The Case of a Malaysian Public University

Abstract

This study presents an effort to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)’s employment trends especially for those who are being graduated in 2019 and 2020. Questionnaire survey was employed, and 505 USIM graduates in both 2019 and 2020 participated in this study. Means comparison and one-way ANOVA analysis were used to identify a significant difference between graduates’ attribute groups on employment trends during COVID-19. The findings reveal that the majority of USIM graduates have different employment as compared to their field of study and have changed their employment at least once during COVID-19. Several attributes including gender, employment sector, employment area, salary range and involvement with the graduate employability (GE) program significantly influence employment trends during COVID-19. Further, among the main reasons for employment changes among graduates during COVID-19 are including to look for a better job, a suitable job and a more satisfactory salary. This study is believed to be a pioneering study in identifying the impact of COVID-19 on employment trends especially on dissimilarities between current employment within the field of study and employment change frequency among graduates. It also contributes by identifying the main reasons for such employment changes during COVID-19.