JOB OPTIMISM GROWS
Companies adopting digital and online measures, resulting in high demand for IT skills, says online job portal
A MAJOR job portal says employers are continuing to take in more new workers, especially in IT roles. The nascent labour market recovery, however, is tempered by Covid-19-induced setbacks experienced by a significant number of people already in the workforce.
THE domestic employment market is starting to recover as the Movement Control Order (MCO) restrictions are progressively lifted, showing a positive outlook in hiring trends.
According to JobStreet’s Covid-19 Job Report released recently, 74 per cent of employers were expected to make new hirings in the next six months.
Jobstreet country manager Gan Bock Herm said the positive trend appeared to be aligned with Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz’s optimism that Malaysia was on track to recovery next year, based on the unemployment rate recovering to 4.9 per cent in June from a record high of 5.3 per cent in May.
“Covid-19 and MCO restrictions have changed the way companies operate. As part of the new normal, companies are adopting various digital and online measures, resulting in high demand for skills related to digital and information technology (IT),” said Gan in a statement.
JobStreet had also observed a growing trend of employers seeking out expertise for emerging IT roles, such as data analysts, artificial intelligence and machine learning specialists, together with experienced digital transformation professionals.
“Hence, it comes as no surprise that the top three industries looking for talent are led by IT, followed by manufacturing and banking/financial services,” he said.
Despite the optimistic findings, the report also highlighted a sharp drop in employees’ quality of life since MCO was introduced.
Forty-four per cent of respondents reported themselves as being unhappy with their quality of life, four times the 11 per cent who
said the same prior to MCO.
The industries most directly affected were hospitality and catering, tourism and travel, media, publishing and beauty care.
“Since March, one in three employees has had their livelihood disrupted, with 18 per cent permanently retrenched due to Covid-19 and 11 per cent temporarily not working, although technically employed,” Gan said.
Furthermore, 48 per cent of respondents reported a negative impact on their remuneration, with 35 per cent saying they had their salaries cut by more than 30 per cent.
Employees had also experienced significant changes in their work-life balance, with 58 per cent being required to work from home, while 39 per cent of respondents experienced an increase in workload.
“JobStreet’s mission is to improve people’s lives through better careers. To this end, we want to be able to provide the necessary, as well as relevant information, insights and tools to enable businesses and individuals to succeed and thrive,” said Gan.
By knowing the trends in the industry and employment landscape better, he said, employers and jobseekers could make better and more informed decisions about their organisations and careers.
During the MCO period, JobStreet had introduced several initiatives under its #TogetherAhead campaign, including the
#WorkNow initiative, which Gan claimed had helped connect 20,000 Malaysian jobseekers with potential employers.
“It has helped displaced jobseekers to let potential employers know that they are ready to work immediately and enabled companies to identify and access job seekers who are available for urgent hiring,” he said.
Separately, Kenanga Investment Bank
Bhd, in a recent report, noted that the unemployment rate had eased to 4.7 per cent in July from 4.9 per cent in June.
Unemployed persons had been reduced for the second straight month as employers began to hire new staff under the Recovery Movement Control Order.
However, about 745,100 people remain unemployed compared with 7 73, 200 in June, which was much higher than last year’s average of 518,900, the research firm said.
Job growth continued to improve, but moderated slightly at an average of 0.6 per cent monthon-month, while labour growth remained stable at 0.3 per cent.
The labour force rose to a fourmonth high of 15.82 million persons, with statistics for June standing at 15.76 million, while new job creation eased to a twomonth low at 83,200 for July from 102,300 in June.
People outside of the labour force charted a mu ted growth amid the government staff hiring incentive programme, suggesting a decent take-up rate of jobseekers, Kenanga noted.
Meanwhile, job vacancies continued to surge in June to 31,800 as the government further eased restrictions under the MCO.
Kenanga also noted that the employment market was expected to continue its positive progress during RMCO, which has been extended to Dec 31.
According to the Employment Insurance System, only 9,300 people applied for loss of employment benefits last month compared with 16,700 in July, reflecting a nascent recovery in the job market.
Nevertheless, the risk of Covid19 resurgence and uncertain demand could weigh on the recovery, Kenanga noted in the report.