Online hiring activity in Malaysia exhibited a relative slowdown in the run-up to the 2018 general election due to political and economic uncertainty, prompting investors and businesses to be more cautious. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s overall online hiring activity plummeted during the start of the second quarter (2Q) of this year, reporting a six and 12 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in April and May 2018 respectively, according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI).
“Online hiring activity in Malaysia exhibited a relative slowdown in the run-up to the 2018 general election due to political and economic uncertainty, prompting investors and businesses to be more cautious,” said Monster.com Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East chief executive officer (CEO) Abhijeet Mukherjee, in a press statement.
Only two of the nine industries monitored by the MEI saw positive annual growth in both months.
The Oil & Gas (O&G) sector has continually registered double-digit growth since April 2017, and is again up 11 per cent y-o-y in April and 14 per cent y-o-y in May 2018. However, it noted that in the short-term, the sector witnessed recessive growth, down two per cent month-on-month (m-o-m) and four per cent on a three-month basis.
It pointed out that the only other industry that ranked among the top growth industries for the second consecutive month was the IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES sector, which was up eight per cent y-o-y in April and recorded marginal growth of one per cent y-o-y in May.
The retail industry continued to fare the worst amongst all job sectors in the last three months, down 41 per cent y-o-y in May, followed by the BFSI sector at minus 30 per cent.
The weak sentiment in April and May is also reflected in the job-roles monitored – only one out of the nine occupations monitored by the MEI saw positive annual growth.
It added that the demand for hospitality & travel roles surged 31 per cent y-o-y in May, recovering from a two month decline.
“This was also the most notable growth in the series. On a short-term basis, the job role also exhibited the steepest growth: up 21 per cent m-o-m, 18 per cent (three-month) and 12 per cent (six-month),” it said.
“The O&G industry continues to lead in positive annual growth as analysts project a better outlook for both upstream and downstream players in the sector.
“The tech industry is also not slowing down in Malaysia, with the digital transformation’s impact on the economy expected to significantly increase by RM400 billion by 2025. More initiatives have been introduced to help businesses adapt to emerging digital technologies, and this is also reflected in the declining demand for more traditional roles such as customer service with businesses revamping their operating models,” Abhijeet added.
The MEI 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 does not reflect the trend of any one source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.