Slight drop in Malaysia s job outlook confidence expected in Second Half 2008, reports JobStreet.com

Transcription

1 Slight drop in Malaysia s job outlook confidence expected in Second Half 2008, reports JobStreet.com Kuala Lumpur, 23 July 2008 There are signs that the job market in many of the industrial sectors in Malaysia is expected to tighten in the second half of this year. A survey conducted by JobStreet.com earlier this month indicates that the overall job outlook confidence is expected to decrease slightly from the first six months. The major sectors most likely to be affected to some degree by the economic uncertainties would be manufacturing, construction, finance, trade, hospitality and transportation, while the computer and mining (oil and gas) industries are likely to be unaffected. From a random selection of about 600 JobStreet.com clients from various industries that were polled in July 2008, 36 percent of them said that they would employ more people in the second half of this year as compared to the same period last year. About 34 per cent said that the level of employing new staff would remain more or less the same, while 30 percent said they would be hiring less people. In contrast, a similar poll by JobStreet.com at the beginning of the year indicated that 55 percent of companies were expecting to hire more staff in the first half of the year as compared to the first six months of The decline in the hiring rate of new staff was also reflected in the job outlook for the second half of this year. About 42 percent of the companies polled were of the opinion that the employment prospects for this period would be worse than that of the same period in 2007.

2 Only 30 percent of the respondents expressed confidence that the next six months of the year would at least be slightly better that the second half of last year, while about 28 percent said the job outlook would be unchanged. Measured against the first half of this year, about 43 percent of the respondents said that the job outlook would be worse. However, 32 percent said the job outlook would be unchanged for the second half and about 25 percent thought that the job outlook would still be positive enough for companies. JobStreet.com also polled the companies on whether or not they would adjust staff salaries in view of increasing fuel prices. While 52 percent of the companies either said there would be no adjustment in the mean time or it was still too early for their management to make any decision, the other 48 percent indicated that there would be an adjustment of at least 5 percent to salaries. The JobStreet.com Job Outlook Survey for the Second half 2008 also polled employers about the job skills and specializations they require in the new staff they would hire during this period. Collectively for all industries, the top job specialization wanted was marketing and business development. Specialization in sales and marketing climbed up two positions to displace mechanical engineering which dropped to third position. Other highly sought skills that companies are looking for include accounting, computer and IT software, clerical and general administration, customer service, electrical engineering, human resource and specialization in technical sales and marketing. (Refer to the table on Page 3)

3 Some comments by survey participants Higher operational costs arising from the recent increase in fuel prices in Malaysia are main concerns expressed by companies that participated in the JobStreet.com Job Outlook Survey for the second half of According to some of the responses received, employers are starting to look at leaner company structures with more qualified candidates filling the job openings. Employers are exercising more caution in hiring additional manpower but at the same time, they are becoming more efficient with their existing headcount. It s now the employer s market, intoned one of the respondents. Another respondent observed that while the job market would be affected by the economic uncertainties, jobs were still there to be filled. However, the more pressing concern that employers still face was the difficulty in finding the right person for the job. Despite the tightening job market, many job seekers continue to be very choosy in their wants and were willing to be jobless until they got what they wanted. Our job market has not reached the desperation stage where job seekers will turn to any job offered to them and perform, he said. However, it should be noted that not all the industries share the same opinion of a tightening job market. A respondent from the computer industry claimed that jobs in the IT industry was still relatively plenty and could even continue to grow during this period.

4 Appendix 1: Job Outlook (major industries)

5 Appendix 2: Top 10 job specializations (major industries)

6 About JobStreet JobStreet operates the JobStreet.com ( online recruitment websites presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. The Group has also established a subsidiary in Japan and invested in Recruit Group Limited in Hong Kong. The Group currently services over 50,000 corporate customers and over 5.0 million jobseekers throughout the region. JobStreet is listed on the Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia Securities (Stock Code: JOBST) Disclaimer This is a JobStreet.com publication. JobStreet.com assumes no responsibility or representation for the accuracy or completeness of the information and shall not be liable for any loss damage claim liability proceedings cost or expense arising directly or indirectly from the contents of and/or any omission from the contents of this publication and/or any communication in relation to them. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of JobStreet.com, the directors, officers and employees. The content of this publication is copyright and may not be reproduced, distributed or published in any form without permission from JobStreet.com.