Unemployed grads should jump on ride-hailing bandwagon

UNTIL July, the Malaysian Department of Statistics stated that about 3.5 per cent of the population were unemployed, which equals to 519,000 people.

Unemployment is one of the reasons for the declining buying power among Malaysians, especially newly-graduated youth.

Besides spending on their daily needs, most young graduates need to repay their study loans.

Otherwise, they would face a travel ban and be listed on the Central Credit Reference Information System.

Since e-hailing services are an economic platform for people to earn, young graduates are encouraged to be Grab and Uber drivers.

I believe that e-hailing services could relieve the economic burden faced by unemployed graduates.

Besides being remunerated, driving Grab and Uber is a good way for them to improve their communication skills as they need to interact with passengers, especially foreigners.

Communication skills are important in getting employed, especially by multinational corporations.

In fact, their ratings and weekly incentives (bonus) are reflected by their customer services, which are determined by their interactions with passengers.

Income they earn from their ehailing services could help them pay off their educational loans.

The driver incentives are credited weekly to their “driver wallet”. For example, if a graduate drives Grab for four hours in a day, and he takes four passengers in an hour with each charged RM10, he would earn RM160.

In a month, if the time discipline is consistent, he could earn RM640.

For the weekly incentive, if he retained a 90 per cent acceptance rate with at least a 4.7 star rating, he could earn extra.

Grab incentives are given to drivers who can complete trips in busy areas at busy hours, usually from 6am to 9am and from 6pm to 9pm.

As Grab has been launched in Seremban, Johor Baru and Langkawi, graduates from those places can drive their cars and earn.

Moreover, the introduction of 1Malaysia Retirement Savings Scheme (SP1M) to Uber drivers since last October could attract more young graduates to Uber.

The was initiated by Uber Malaysia in a collaboration with the Employees Provident Fund.

Despite drivers’ contributions to the scheme being voluntary, it proves that EPF is collaborative in securing the welfare of e-hailing drivers, especially full-time ones.

Regardless of educational background and universities, young graduates should benefit from ride-sharing services.