Malaysia’s online hiring activity hit a high note in February charting 11 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth, according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI).

Job roles with the most notable growth in e-recruitment with 52 per cent on y-o-y growth are from the information technology, telecom or internet service provider and business process outsourcing or information technology enabled services sectors. 

For this industry, the growth momentum improved significantly from the 20 percent registered in January. 

Other top hiring industries are the logistic, courier or freight or transportation, shipping or marine sector, exhibiting double-digit growth of 45 per cent y-o-y, as well as the oil and gas industry with a 41 per cent y-o-y growth.

Hospitality and travel job roles also saw an uptrend in online demand for the second consecutive month, witnessing 26 percent y-o-y growth. 

However, the banking, financial services and insurance industry exhibited the steepest decline with a y-o-y contraction of 4 per cent while marketing and communications was the only job-role to match the corresponding period year-ago growth.

The MEI is a gauge of online job posting activities compiled monthly by Monster.com. 

It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.

The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

The positive outlook in February is also reflected in the occupations monitored eight out of nine job roles monitored by the MEI witnessed an uptrend in annual online demand. 

Software, Hardware, Telecom professionals continued to lead year-on-year growth in online recruitment for the ninth consecutive month. The job role registered 74 percent year-on-year growth in February and 3 percent in the last six-months.

“The Malaysian economy remained resilient in the fourth quarter of 2017, posting a 5.9 percent year-on-year growth driven predominantly by private sector demand. 

“The strong outlook in the last quarter correlates with the steady growth in Malaysia’s job market and marks continued business confidence especially in the tech, logistics and oil & gas sector,” said chief executive officer of of Monster.com for APAC and Middle East, Abhijeet Mukherjee.

Malaysia. he added, has seen significant progress in its digital transformation journey, launching the Digital Free Trade Zone, and introducing multiple digital initiatives in its national agenda. 

“As traditional business models are disrupted, SMEs, which represent 98.5 percent of businesses in Malaysia needs to continue to scale their business through new technology adoption and start redefining the way work gets done. 

“We are seeing a surge in the battle for talent in tech, e-commerce and professional services, signaling strong demand for niche skills to match and adapt to changing local and global market needs. 

“Students and employees alike should always stay ahead of industry trends to grasp and anticipate changing market needs, and in turn consistently upgrade their skills and find new opportunities,” explained Mukherjee.

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