DESPITE seeing positive annual growth the month before, Malaysia witnessed a sharp decline in online hiring for March 2020.
According to the Monster Employment Index (MEI), the beginning of the year started off rocky for e-recruitment in Malaysia, as January brought a decline of 4% year-on-year. In February, though, online recruitment in Malaysia saw a significant spike, with a 9% year-on-year increase.
However, this was followed by another dip in March which saw a 6% year-on-year decline.
Monster.com APAC and Middle East CEO Krish Seshadri said, “The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the world in an unprecedented way.
“On March 18 Malaysia implemented a national Movement Control Order (MCO) as a measure to curb the spread of the virus. This partial lockdown has severely impacted many businesses and companies in Malaysia, and online hiring has also taken a hit.
“We are cautiously optimistic that there will be a gradual U-shaped economic recovery for the region, and hope we will see an improvement in online recruitment once the MCO is lifted.”
MEI is a gauge of online job posting activity compiled monthly by Monster.com. It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in local recruitment activity.
In March, only two of the nine industry sectors monitored by the index witnessed growth in online recruitment activity.
Malaysia’s oil and gas sector witnessed the biggest growth, registering a 6% year-on-year increase in online recruitment activity in March. This is the most notable hike in e-recruitment activity for that industry since October 2019.
The growth momentum improved by nine percentage points – up from a decline of 3% in February. In the short term, the sector has fared well, up 5% (month-on-month), up 4% (three-month) and up 3% (six-month).
The IT and telecommunication industry continues to reign as the most popular industry in e-recruitment in Malaysia. In March, there was a 3% year-on-year increase in demand for hiring, but on-the-month, the sector saw no growth.
E-recruitment activity in advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment saw a marginal decline of 2% on-the-year, down from 19% growth last month. Nonetheless, on a six-month basis, the sector exhibited the steepest growth (up 13%) among all sectors.
Year-on-year, the hospitality industry receded in annual growth for the first time since April 2019, with a decrease of 3%. Month-on-month, the sector saw a decline of 8%.
Meanwhile, the logistics, courier/freight/transportation, shipping/marine sector recorded the most notable decline among industry sectors in March, with a 18% year-on-year decline.
In terms of specific job roles, the year-on-year growth for professionals was positive in only one of the nine job-roles monitored by the Index. Professionals in the software, hardware and telecommunications industry were the only occupation group to record positive growth among job roles, with a 9% year-on-year growth in March.
In the short term, the sector witnessed strong double-digit growth across the board: 12% (month-on-month), 29% (three-month) and 24% (six-month).
Marketing and communications professionals witnessed a 5% decline on an annual basis in March and long-term growth momentum for this occupation group eased by 10% between February and March. However, monthly demand recorded a small growth of 1% in March.
Year-on-year, sales and business development professionals recorded a decline of 6%. Nevertheless, online demand remained positive on all other parameters; up 5% (month-on-month), up 10% (three-month) and up 4% (six-month).
Meanwhile, positions in the customer service, hospitality and travel sectors recorded the steepest annual decline in March among job roles, both down 27% year-on-year. – April 21, 2020
