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Lethargic Malaysian economy sees slower hiring, survey shows
Published:  Sep 14, 2016 9:06 AM
Updated: 2:16 AM

Malaysians who leave their current jobs are struggling to find new positions, according to a survey by an online employment website.

The SkootJobs.com survey carried out from Aug 15 to 30 among 1,700 online jobseekers found 80.6 percent of them responding that it is either difficult or very difficult to get a job these days.

This is compared with 19.4 percent of those answering the question 'How difficult is it these days to get a job?' with either 'okay', 'easy' or 'very easy'.

Despite this, respondents to the same survey believe the long term prospects remain positive, with 70.3 percent saying Malaysia’s long-term economic and political prospects are okay or good.

SkootJobs.com CEO Asim Qureshi said that the survey shows that jobseekers are feeling the heat from a tougher job market right now.

"Only 3.5 percent of jobseekers felt it was easy or very easy to get a job, which is surprisingly low, especially when considering Malaysia’s job market has traditionally been somewhat of a huge merry-go-round where employers struggle with staff turnover," Asim said.

He believes that companies are now taking their time and being more choosy about candidates.

"I see that employers are being way more selective when hiring than a few years ago,” Asim said.

Unemployment rate still low

All in all, SkootJobs.com said Malaysia’s unemployment rate has been hovering around 3.4 percent in 2016, a reassuring low if compared with other economies, but the highest since 2009. From 2009 to 2016, it has floated around the three percent level, the firm said.

The company said the difficulty the respondents face in finding jobs, while unemployment is at relatively low levels, is surprising.

But it noted that the Malaysian economy has been lethargic recently, with the second quarter GDP growth for 2016 at four percent, after five consecutive quarters of decline from a high of 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2014.

Though with the relatively good skills sets that Malaysian employees do possess, some, like payroll solutions provider PayrollPanda.my chief operating officer Toine Vaessen see the hiring slowdown, while bad for jobseekers, as a plus for firms keen on cherry-picking a good work force when businesses pick up.

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