KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Competition for highly-skilled workers is set to drive Malaysian companies to bump up pay levels for 2014, according to a new Asia-wide job market study.

The 2014 Hays Salary Guide projects that around 31 per cent of Malaysian workers will see their pay increase between six and 10 per cent this year, up from the 25 per cent of the country’s working population who were granted a similar pay raise in 2013.

In comparison, the guide expects just 12 per cent of employees in Singapore to experience a similar range in salary increases in 2014, a dip from the 14 per cent who saw registered the same increments last year.

An estimated 11 per cent of Malaysian workers can expect to see salaries increase by over 10 per cent this year, or one percentage point more than the group who took home similar raises last year and higher than the 7 per cent average across all countries.

Hays, a global recruitment firm, found that Malaysia, like most leading economies in the region, is facing  a chronic shortage of highly-skilled staff, leading to stiff competition among companies to recruit — and keep — the best talent.

The firm said top-tier jobs in six core sectors — accountancy and finance, finance technology, information technology, human resources, sales and marketing, and oil and gas — will see a frenzy of activity this year.

The demand for skilled labour ranges from senior management positions such as heads of finance and financial controllers to technology-heavy posts related to SAP and Mainframe management and experts in brand management and marketing.

The recruitment firm noted that the country’s push for “Malaysianisation” of its workforce ― which is the core reason for the formation of TalentCorp by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak ― will also contribute to better remuneration and benefits packages for skilled Malaysians.

Hays explained that the salary and recruitment trend in Malaysia is reflective of an Asia-wide demand-and-supply ratio that remains “firmly in favour of candidates” seeking employment.

“While the region has not been immune from economic challenges, in a global context Asia remains a hotbed of recruitment activity and omnipresent high-level skills shortages are the continuous bane of hiring managers,” the firm said in its guide.

The guide, which surveyed over 2,600 employers across China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, added that 63 per cent of participating companies reported increased business activity over the past 12 months and 71 per cent expect it to increase this year.

Malaysia faces a severe talent flight issue with an estimated 5 per cent of skilled locals exiting the country on an annual basis ― with the majority crossing the Causeway into neighbouring Singapore.

A World Bank report from 2011 concluded that 20 per cent of Malaysian graduates opted to leave the country, again with Singapore cited as the preferred destination.

Malaysia has been actively working towards attracting skilled Malaysians working abroad to come home and help prop up local industries as the country works towards achieving its goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020.

This included the formation of TalentCorp Malaysia in 2011, which was tasked with reaching out to overseas Malaysians and convincing them to return by offering them attractive remuneration schemes, among other things.

The government was reported to have also said that the national policy has shifted from producing semi-skilled workers through its various vocational programmes to highly-skilled workers, with the aim of having skilled workers account for 50 per cent of the country’s population by 2020.

The development of a large pool of local skilled workers has been pinned as a necessary component to reach the country’s goal of US$15,000 (RM48,900) per capita income in six years, effectively narrowing Malaysia’s income disparity with high-flying countries in the region such as South Korea and neighbouring Singapore.