Amidst the slow recovery in online demand for IT professionals earlier this year, hiring sees a slump once again across Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia.
This is according to the latest round of Monster Employment Index (MEI) data. The MEI, a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity, records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity.
Singapore reported the least decline in hiring activities amongst the three markets, registering -4% year-over-year dip. This is a 6% drop from 2% year-on-year growth recorded in January.
Online hiring activities in the IT sector in Philippines also reported a 6% dip from its annual hiring in January (reporting -1% drop year-over-year), at -5% year-over-year. Despite the dip,the sector remains amongst the top growth industry groups in the market.
In Malaysia, the sector reported -49% year-over-year slump in online hiring, down from -25% decline registered in January. Month-on-month hiring has also fallen by 17% in February, making it the second lowest growth industry in Malaysia.
Online hiring of the Hardware, Software and Telecom professionals also exhibited falling demand, as Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines continue to report declining hiring activities. The group is also amongst the lowest growth occupation groups in Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore once again reported the least decline across the three markets, at -19% year-over-year. This is a 7% drop from -12% decline year-over-year reported in January 2016.
Malaysia fared the worst amongst the three markets, reporting a whopping -73% decline in online demand for Hardware, Software and Telecom professionals. The group also saw the steepest decline in online demand between February 2015 and 2016 among the occupation groups surveyed by the MEI.
Philippines exhibited -30% year-over-year dip in online hiring between February 2015 and 2016, a marginal 1% dip from -29% decline recorded in January 2016. Despite the decline, the group is among the top growth occupations in the market.
“As the global economy struggles to recover, hiring activities across Southeast Asia experienced an overall slump and the IT sector has not been spared either. Some employers have as a result, been prompted to be cautious with their hiring and to manage resources wisely during this period of time,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong).
“Major tech players have based their Asian operations in Singapore, and have gone on hiring sprees since. However, hiring has been stunted partly due to the lack of qualified candidates in Singapore’s limited talent pool. Malaysia has been an attractive state for foreign investments and IT hiring activities are likely to pick up once businesses proceed with investment projects. To further enhance the productivity and quality of work in the Philippines’ IT sector, some employers have chosen to focus on addressing skill gaps within the sector, over aggressively hiring to meet market demands.”