Online hiring across Southeast Asia’s IT space continues to witness moderate growth in May 2016. However, despite this marginal increase in activity, demands for Software, Hardware and Telecom professionals remain weak.
This is reflected in the latest round of Monster Employment Index (MEI) data, a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity by Monster.com. The Index records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity, including data from the IT sectors.
The Philippines exhibited a 9% year-over-year growth in hiring activities in the IT, Telecom/ ISP and BPO/ITES industry – falling 2% from the 11% annual growth recorded in April. It is once again the strongest out of the three markets – Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
Annual hiring in Singapore remained the same as April, reporting 1% year-over-year growth. Despite the stagnant growth, month-on-month hiring has seen a moderate improvement of 3%.
Malaysia once again exhibited the weakest hiring activity, reporting a -1% decline year-over-year. This is a 10% improvement from -11% reported between April 2015 and 2016.
When looking at the demands for Software, Hardware and Telecom roles, none of the markets reported positive growth in hiring activities between May 2015 and 2016. Malaysia reported the steepest decline with a -29% year-over-year drop. Both Singapore and the Philippines registered -3% year-over-year decline in hiring of the Hardware, Software and Telecom professionals.
“As digital strategy grows to become the forefront of business and customer strategy, digital transformation will remain a constant across organisations. Business owners need to be agile enough to embrace this disruption and be ready to re-align their HR strategies accordingly to maintain productivity. This means bringing onboard skilled IT talent and leaders who understand disruptive technology and are capable of helping organisations remain competitive in this space,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director, Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.
The MEI is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, 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. 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.
See below for all trends across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines for May 2016.
Singapore Highlights
- Singapore exhibited a -5% annual dip in online recruitment in May
- The Consumer Goods/ FMCG, Food & Packaged Food, Home Appliance, Garments/ Textile/ Leather, Gems & Jewellery sector reported the steepest y-o-y growth at 6%
- The BFSI sector reported the steepest fall at -8% year-over-year
- Hospitality & Travel roles saw the greatest growth in demand at 1%, while Real Estate roles registered the steepest drop at -18% year-over-year
Malaysia Highlights
- Malaysia experienced -13% year-over-year drop in online hiring in May 2016
- No job sector and occupational groups registered positive annual growth
- The IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES sectors reported the least annual decline at -1%, while the Logistic, Courier/ Freight/ Transportation, Shipping/ Marine sector continued to report the steepest annual plunge at -35%
- Annual demand for Marketing & Communications professionals reported the least decline at -1%, whereas the Software, Hardware, Telecom roles experienced the steepest drop at -29% year-over-year
Philippines Highlights
- Philippines saw an 11% growth in online hiring between May 2015 and 2016
- The Retail sector saw 106% year-over-year growth, the steepest among all sectors
- The Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary sector saw the sharpest decline at -34% year-over-year
- HR & Admin professionals saw the steepest growth at 39%, while Hospitality & Travel professionals reported the sharpest decline at -55%
