On a short-term basis, the job-role registered double-digit growth – up 21 per cent in a three-month period and 24 per cent across a six-month period.
KUALA LUMPUR: Hospitality and travel roles were the most in-demand profession among occupation groups for the third consecutive month, up seven per cent year-on-year in July 2018, according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI).
On a short-term basis, the job-role registered double-digit growth – up 21 per cent in a three-month period and 24 per cent across a six-month period.
Hospitality and travel professionals also constituted the highest share of part-time or temporary jobs among other occupations at 35 per cent in July.
MEI is a gauge of online job posting activities compiled monthly by Monster.com.
It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.
However, Malaysia’s overall online hiring activity declined six per cent year-on-year in July. Among the nine industry sectors monitored by the index, four saw positive annual growth.
The information technology (IT), telecommunications or internet service provider (ISP) and business process outsourcing (BPO) or IT-enabled services and oil and gas sector continued to chart the most notable year-on-year growth, with both industries registering 11 per cent in July.
The logistic, courier or freight or transportation, shipping or marine also ranked among the top growth industries in July, up five per cent.
The production or manufacturing, automotive and ancillary witnessed an uptrend in online recruitment activity (up one per cent) for the first time since March this year.
The retail and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry continued to record the steepest annual decline among all sectors since March 2018. In July, the retail sector was down 28 per cent, followed by the BFSI sector at 16 per cent.
Customer service roles remained the worst performing occupational group, reporting a decline of 19 per cent year-on-year and sales and business development professionals also continued to witness negative growth in the last four months, down 13 per cent year-on-year in July.
“With Malaysia’s tourism sector identified as one of the major contributors to the nation’s economic success, welcoming 8.47 million tourists in the first four months of the year, growth in the hospitality and travel industry appears poised to continue,” said Monster.com Asia Pacific and Middle East chief executive officer Abhijeet Mukherjee.
“Hotels have been mushrooming in Malaysia as well, with a number of renowned hotel brands venturing into the local scene for the first time. Evolving technologies and data-driven personalisation are further shaping the future of travel – driving brands to continuously innovate and explore new possibilities around better service experiences.
“This not only creates new types of job roles within the hospitality and travel industry but also fuels demand for talents who learn how to collaborate with both people and technology,” he said.
