Malaysian online recruitment activities in April this year have fallen by 18 percent compared with that in April 2015, an analysis released today by international online employment group Monster.com shows.

According to the Monster Employment Index (MEI) Malaysia, the software, hardware and telecommunications industry reported the steepest plunge, with a 35-percent drop in April’s online hiring activities compared with that in April 2015.

Other sectors in the Malaysian job market also recorded a drop in online recruitment (in April 2016, compared with April 2015):

  • Engineering, sonstruction and real estate: 25 percent drop;
     
  • Banking, financial services and insurance: 22 percent dip;
     
  • Hospitality: 19 percent fall;
     
  • Retail: 12 percent plunge;
     
  • Information technology: 11 percent drop;
     
  • Production/manufacturing, mutomotive and ancillary industries: seven percent fall; and
     
  • Advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment sector: four percent dip.

Monster.com managing director for the India, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong region, Sanjay Modi, opined that the plunge could be attributed to the ban on the hiring of foreign employees in Malaysia during the earlier months of 2016.

“The ban on the recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia earlier this year, and the weak Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) figure has caused employers to hold back on hiring activities, especially in the labour-intensive sectors and job roles.

“Sectors affected included the construction, the shipping and the logistics sectors, where hiring numbers have been hit as reflected in the MEI data.

“Now that the ban on foreign workers is semi-lifted, we can expect companies to continue hiring in the months to come to cope with job demands,” Sanjay said.

According to Monster.com, its MEI for Malaysia is a monthly gauge of online job posting activities, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities, culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Malaysia.

It added that the MEI does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industries.