Online recruitment down 11% in March

KUALA LUMPUR: Online hiring in Malaysia dropped 11% in March 2017 compared with a year ago, said Monster Employment Index (MEI), which measures online job posting activities compiled monthly by Monster.com.


Although hiring momentum between February and March had eased, it said online recruitment for the information technology, telecom/Internet service provider and business process outsourcing/information technology-enabled service sector grew 13%, year-on-year (y-o-y).


In a statement, Monster.com said the retail sector continued to fare badly compared with other job sectors, declining 36%, y-o-y, a plunge from the 22% y-o-y recorded in February 2017.


Across the occupational groups monitored by MEI, jobs in the purchase/logistics/supply chain segment were most in demand, registering a 10% growth in online hiring, its sixth month of consecutive positive growth.


Meanwhile, customer service professionals hiring dropped 58%, y-o-y, dipping further from the 55% annual decline recorded in the previous month. “The persisting gloomy economic outlook has left employers conservative when it comes to hiring across the board.


“This is in spite of the short-term positive economic forecasts in key sectors such as information technology, production and manufacturing,” said Monster.com Asia-Pacific and Middle East managing director Sanjay Modi in the statement. — Bernama (TheStar)