Online hiring in Malaysia contracted by 39 percent year-on-year in February, according to the Monster Employment Index (MEI) with IT jobs

The MEI is a gauge of online job posting activities which records the growth in recruiment activity by industries and occupations.

The online employment company in a statement said this was a wider contraction compared to January which recorded a 28 percent year-on year shrinkage.

It said the decline was recorded across all industries and occupations.

Broken down by industries, the hardest hit was the logistics sector which saw a contraction of 56 percent followed by the IT sector at 49 percent, hospitality (45 percent) and retail (39 percent).

The banking, financial services and insurance sector fared no better as it shrank by 38 percent followed by the advertising, public relations, media and entertainment sector at 22 percent and oil and gas at 17 percent.

The least hit sector was in production/manufacturing, automotive and ancillary which saw the smallest contraction of 10 percent.

In terms of occupation, the worst-hit sector was in software, hardware and telecommunications which saw a 73 percent reduction followed by hospitality and travel at 53 percent, logistics and supply chain at 46 percent, sales and business development at 41 percent, customer service at 38 percent and engineering/production and real estate at 31 percent.

The three least affected sectors are marketing and communications (-10 percent), human resources and admin (-29 percent) and finances and accounts (-29 percent).

All figures are based on year-on-year data for February.

“The declining oil prices and sluggish growth of the Chinese economy continue to have an adverse impact on Malaysia’s economic growth, as well as hiring sentiments across the board.”

“To cope with challenging market conditions, some employers have continued to slow down their hiring activities, while others have taken a further step in cutting down on their workforce,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com (India, Middle East, South-East Asia, Hong Kong).

Sanjay said he expected the fluctuating hiring numbers to remain but noted that the entry of foreign companies into Malaysia may work favourably for the jobs market.

"A steady flow of such investments into the country can be favourable to the local job markets," he said.