Online hiring activities have plunged overall between April 2015 and now, with none of the job sectors seeing positive growth.
According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) Malaysia, Malaysia saw -18% year-over-year dip in online hiring in April 2016, falling 7% from -11% reported between March 2015 and 2016.
The sector that showed the least decline, however, was marketing and communications, which recorded a one percent year-on-year decline.
“This is a seven percent slump from six percent year-over-year growth recorded in March 2016. Despite the contraction, month-on-month hiring activities witnessed a marginal one percent improvement between March and April 2016,” it said in a statement.
The study also noted that the wider advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment sectors showed a -4% year-over-year decline in online hiring activities, the least of all sectors monitored.
On the decline was the demand for software, hardware and telecom professionals, which reported the steepest year-on-year plunge, at -38%, along with the logistic, courier/ freight/ transportation, shipping/ marine sectors, at -35%.
“The ban on the recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia earlier this year, and the weak PMI figure has caused employers to hold back on hiring activities, especially the labour-intensive sectors and job roles,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director for Monster.com – India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong.
“Sectors affected included the construction, the shipping and the logistics sectors, where hiring numbers have been hit as reflected in the MEI data. Now that the ban on foreign workers is semi-lifted, we can expect companies to continue hiring in the months to come to cope with job demands.”
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly analysis of online job posting activity in Malaysia conducted by Monster India.
