Online hiring in Malaysia remains lacklustre
KUCHING: The electronic recruitment scenario in Malaysia continued to be lacklustre as statistics showed that it declined by 28 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Jan 2016.
According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) report, a monthly gauge of online job posting activity in Malaysia, the decrease was a marginal improvement from a contraction of 33 per cent y-o-y decline in between December 2014 and 2015.
It observed that while the annual pace of decline in Malaysia’s hiring activities has eased slightly, it pointed out Malaysia’s struggling economic growth continued to take its toll on the country’s hiring situation.
Monster.com’s (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong) managing director Sanjay Modi in a statement said, “Global sluggish economic growth has led to a slow-down in hiring activity amongst companies in Malaysia, as recruiters remain cautious, holding off on new recruits.
“The second half of the year however, appears to be more promising as Malaysia’s financial climate is likely to stabilise with declining oil prices and depreciation of the ringgit,” Modi said.
“In addition, it is likely that information technology ( IT) professionals would experience a surge in demand as Malaysia slowly transforms into the Asia Pacific hub for IT consulting and shared services.
“Furthermore, as more multinational companies (MNCs) move to Malaysia, demand for accounting and finance professionals are also expected to rise in the country,” Modi believed.
Meanwhile, the Monster Employment Index Malaysia is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real- time review of millions of employer job opportunities, culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Malaysia.
The Index, according to online employment services tracker Monster.com said it does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but was an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry
It noted none of the sectors tracked by the Index registered a positive annual growth.
“Between January 2015 and 2016, the oil and gas sector reported no change in online hiring, at zero per cent y-o-y.
“This is also the only sector that witnessed a positive month-onmonth growth.
“On the other hand, the logistics, courier or freight or transportation and shipping or marine industry performed the worst between January 2015 and 2016, recording a drop of 33 per cent annual decline.
“Annual demand across all occupational groups continues to witness a decline, with the marketing and communications roles experiencing the least annual dip at a contraction of one per cent.
“The pace of growth in the group has also slowed down between December 2015 and January 2016.
“Demand for software, hardware, telecom jobs continues to register the sharpest decline at a contraction of 66 per cent y-o-y,” the Index revealed.