ISSN: 2265-6294

Assessing the Relationship between Demographic Factors and Employability among University Graduates in the Maldives

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Khaulath Saeed, Ooi Boon Keat, Jacquelin Tham

Abstract

Graduate employability has become a global concern currently. Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s), human resource managers and policy makers are keen to find answers for factors contributing to Employability. In Maldives, unemployment rate of the youth (15-24 years) is 22% which is not due to lack of jobs but due to a gap in the skills needed for employability. The purpose of the current study is to find out whether there is a relationship between demographic factors and employability of graduates in Maldives. A cross sectional institutions-based quantitative study was conducted among graduates from two HEI’s in Maldives and simple random sampling method was used for the purpose of the study. 396 questionnaires were turned in with a response rate of 66%. The findings from the study shows that from the seven demographic factor dimensions, the derived values were statistically significant for the dimensions Age and Time taken for employment after graduation R2 = 0.040, F (1, 314) = 0.512 (p < 0.05) for Employability. The mean difference among the age group and time taken for employment after graduation, there was not much difference showed when tested by Post- hoc Tukey HSD test. Even though, the term employability gives the impression that getting employed depends on the individual and their willingness to do beyond their knowledge, employability can be regarded as an approach where increasing graduands readiness to develop and sustain qualities that are useful in the labour market.

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