Addressing Issues of Unemployment in Brunei

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the issue of youth unemployment in Brunei by exploring the occupational aspirations of youth, the expectations of employers towards their employees, and the current policy initiatives of the government. The aspirations of youth were explored by conducting a series of focus groups among youths of different age groups and educational levels. The findings indicated that youths in Brunei preferred jobs that are prestigious, highly paid, stable, and are less likely to take risks. The expectations of employers, on the other hand, entailed a semi-structured interview to assess the employers' expectations for their current and/or prospective employees. The findings revealed that youths lack awareness on important employability skills that are critical for their entrance into and performance into the labour market. A majority of the employers attribute the lack of drive, entrepreneurial spirit, and awareness of the importance of leadership from an early age for employability and a need to strengthen collaborative development amongst the relevant agencies.

Cultural Values and Its Influence on the Enactment of Leadership in Public Sector Organisations

“…An imbalance arises when the act of maintaining harmony comes at the expense of transparency in processes and decisions made by leaders. This supports various other studies which theory and research describes East Asian cultures as valuing harmony and interdependence (see Oetzel & Ting-Toomey, 2003;Ting-Toomey, Oetzel, & Yee-Jung, 2001;Lim et al, 2012;Musa & Idris, 2020a, 2020bPehin Dato Musa et al, 2020). This study suggests that culture and religion can limit the ways we can be transparent.…”

Preparing the youth for the future of work through apprenticeship programme in Brunei

“…Evidence suggests Brunei's rentier economy has fostered an overdependence on oil and gas revenue, culminating in a blas e attitude toward economic growth and suppression of human capital progress (Musa and Idris, 2020). An important policy implication of the rentier mentality is the need for education to expose young people to the causal link between work and reward through performance so they could have more realistic expectations (Minnis, 2000).…”

“…Among them is that the youth may have high reservation wages and are willing to wait until their desired jobs are offered (Musa and Ananta, 2023). It may also be due to the mismatch between the youths' occupational aspirations and the employers' expectations, whereby most young people in Brunei aspire towards public sector jobs (Musa and Idris, 2020).…”

Entrepreneurship Dynamics: Assessing the Role of Macroeconomic Variables on New Business Density in Euro Area

“…The relationship between an unemployment rate and entrepreneurship was examined by many authors (Thurik 2003;Baptista and Thurik 2007;Musa and Semasinghe 2013;Cueto et al 2015). According to Thurik (2003), entrepreneurship can contribute to the reduction of unemployment.…”