SHOULD WE BLAME THE GRADUATES FOR THEIR UNEMPLOYMENT? A HAPPINESS APPROACH

This paper estimates change of happiness of Malaysian graduates who are in the stage of transition from university to labour market and tests the voluntary unemployment hypothesis using a happiness approach. It is found that a substantial deterioration in the graduate's happiness occurs during the transition. The change in happiness of unemployed graduates are not differ significantly from graduates who are self-employed, part-time or full-time employed with employment that does not commensurate with qualification. Thus, we could not reject the voluntary unemployment hypothesis and the graduates could be partially blamed for their unemployment.