American Journal of Educational Research, 2019, Vol. 7, No. 11, 859-864 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/7/11/16 Published by Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/education-7-11-16 Level of Absorption and Suitability in the Field of Machining Work among Vocational School Graduates in Yogyakarta Region Esta Larosa * , Sudji Munadi Department of Mechanical Engineering Education, Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia *Corresponding author: estalarosa.2018@student.uny.ac.id Received October 03, 2019; Revised November 10, 2019; Accepted November 24, 2019 Abstract This study aims to (1) analyze the level of absorption and suitability of the field of work of graduates of the Mechanical Engineering Vocational School in the Yogyakarta Region, (2) find out how the strategies are carried out by the schools to maintain and improve the absorption and relevance of graduates. This research uses a quantitative descriptive approach. Sampling was done using proportional random sampling method. Data collection techniques are done using interview guidelines, observation, and documentation. The subjects of this study were the teacher who manages the special job fair, the head of the study program in the engineering department, the students and the teacher who handled the student industry practice program. The results showed that (1) the percentage of students' absorption in the world of work was 80%, the lowest was 60%, this showed that the incorporation of public and private SMK graduates in Yogyakarta was in the category of functional job readiness, because more than half had entered the world of work, but not all vocational students work according to their fields. The causal factors that influence the discrepancy in the area of student work in the world of work are the lack of cooperation between schools and industry, the availability of jobs in the machining sector is still minimal. (2) Strategies in dealing with technological developments are always carried out by schools to maintain and improve the absorption and relevance of graduates by creating learning variations that support the needs of 4C skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity) implementing fun learning strategies, schools also organize machining workshops and seminars on the development of machining technology. Keywords: 21st-century skills, revolution 4.0, work readiness Cite This Article: Esta Larosa, and Sudji Munadi, “Level of Absorption and Suitability in the Field of Machining Work among Vocational School Graduates in Yogyakarta Region.” American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 7, no. 11 (2019): 859-864. doi: 10.12691/education-7-11-16. 1. Introduction Indonesia is included in the category of the largest population, which ranks fourth with a population of 265 million people, a large number of people but low-quality human resources is a burden for Indonesia [1]. The level of Human Resources in Indonesia is still relatively low. This is evidenced through the Indonesian human resource index, which is in the 36th position out of 137 countries, the quality of Indonesian human resources is below the average of ASEAN countries. According to the Indonesian finance minister, Sri Muyani Indrawati revealed, several factors can improve Indonesia's competitiveness, including the focus of the government in terms of human resource development through education investment [2], from this phrase shows that education is the initial foundation that has an essential role in improving the quality of human resources in Indonesia, Education is one way in order to prepare qualified and professional resources [3]. Education is a conscious effort to develop the potential of human resources through teaching activities [4]. So education is a conscious effort to develop the potential of human resources through teaching and learning activities. The development of teaching and learning process in the 21st century emphasizes the ability of 4C (critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity) this is due to the need for work that has turned to automation so that robots and machines replace many workers, but thousands of types will emerge new work [5]. To deal with developments in the 21st century, everyone must-have 21st-century skills including (1) life and career skills, (2) learning and innovation skills, and (3) Information media and technology skills [6]. The skills are arranged in a scheme called the 21st-century rainbow knowledge skills rainbow. The following is Figure 1. So that competencies can be realized, the required skills can be recognized through the vocational learning process [7,8]. Vocational School is one of vocational education which aims to produce outputs that are ready to work and create a quality workforce. Vocational education is education that is orient towards practice in the fields of carpentry, business, industry, agriculture, transportation,