Southeast Asia’s IT sector remains a bright spot for employment prospects. This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index, a monthly gauge of online hiring activity monitored by Monster.com. The Monster Employment Index (MEI) records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in e-recruitment, also including specific data points from the IT and Telecom sectors.
Keeping in line with March’s trend, all markets registered positive growth in online hiring activity, with the Philippines reporting the strongest growth at 27% year-on-year. The sector also emerged as the top growth industry in the country.
Both Singapore and Malaysia reported a 13% rise year-on-year in online hiring sentiment.
Software, hardware and telecom professionals are also in demand, as all three markets continued to report strong double-digit growth in March. The occupational group was also the top growth job in Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore reported 29% year-on-year growth in demand for these professionals – the steepest amongst the three markets the Index monitored. This was also a 6% fall from the 35% year-on-year growth reported in February.
Malaysia recounted a 10% year-on-year growth, falling 20% from 30% year-on-year reported in February 2017. On the other hand, the Philippines saw a 12% year-on-year growth in demand for these professionals.
“Our employment index reflects a slow, yet stable hiring sentiment for tech talent amidst a diverse, rich and skilled talent pool that the region has to offer. However, businesses and professionals must stay cautious given the uncertain market conditions and stricter regulations for foreign workers, which may lead to the thinning of this talent pool,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director, Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.
Modi believes that the tech landscape is set to” expand rapidly creating more job opportunities. However, the time taken to fill highly specialized tech roles has increased in the recent past in the wake of a competitive job market. Rapid digitalization continues to alter roles, demanding a skill set, which is hard to find. This means HR managers need a robust retention strategy to retain their best resources. It’s only by constantly adapting to this new normal that both talent leaders and prospective candidates will stay ahead of the curve.”
See below for all trends across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines for March 2017.
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
