Retail hiring rises by 65 per cent y-o-y
KUALA LUMPUR: Talent platform foundit reported a 65 per cent increase in hiring activity in Malaysia’s retail industry year-on-year (y-o-y) in December 2022 due to robust retail sales and an upward trend in consumer sentiment.
“The easing of Covid rules and regulations, fast-growing retail business, along with borders reopening to boost import/export and resume travel have aided the boost in retail jobs,” it said in a statement.
“Similar trends were observed in the hospitality sector, where job demand increased significantly by 55per cent. With a 34per cent increase in hiring activity, the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector also maintained its upward trend.”
Other sectors showed hiring growth in December 2022, including logistics and courier with an increase of 32per cent.
Meanwhile, the advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment segments collectively saw a 15per cent increase due to surging digital marketing and artificial intelligence deployment. Sectors such as production and manufacturing in automotive improved by 2 per cent, as well as engineering, construction and real estate (2 per cent), and oil and gas (1 per cent).
In contrast, hiring on IT, telecom/internet service provider and business process outsourcing/information technology (IT)-enabled services has dipped by 13 per cent y-o-y, and hiring in recent months has slowed down due to ongoing global economic uncertainties.
In terms of online recruitment, the hospital and travel sector has increased by 212 per cent as land and air borders reopen from the pandemic, including Singapore’s land borders.
Border reopening has also impacted sales and business development job roles, which increased by 28 per cent.
The penetration of digitalisation across all sectors affected finance and accounts roles by 29 per cent which registered increasing demand and growth since April 2021.
“However, among all monitored functions, customer service is the only one to have registered a de-growth of 17 per cent in December 2022,” said foundit.
Malaysia also recorded a robust 21per cent y-o-y growth in e-recruitment – based on foundit’s Insight Tracker – due to Malaysia’s easing travel restrictions and border openings.
The tracker – formerly known as Monster Employment Index – offers a snapshot of employer online recruitment activity by analysing online job posting activities using a real-time review of employer job opportunities from a large, representative selection of online career outlets.
Malaysia stands at 76 on the tracker as of Dec 31, 2022, based on the 3per cent month-onmonth growth after a hiring spree in December 2022, in addition to a robust 10per cent growth in hiring across sectors – signalling a demand in the labour market.
“The job market in Malaysia is showing strong and sustained demand, as reflected in the impressive growth numbers reported by the foundit Insights Tracker,” said foundit chief executive officer Sekhar Garisa.
“This is a testament to the country’s success in easing travel restrictions and reopening its borders, which has led to a surge in demand across various sectors, particularly in retail, hospitality, and BFSI. The overall picture is of resilience and growth, even though some sectors have experienced difficulties due to global economic uncertainty. We believe that this trend will persist in the upcoming months,” he added.
The easing of Covid rules and regulations, fast-growing retail business, along with borders reopening to boost import/export and resume travel have aided the boost in retail jobs.
Talent platform foundit