KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Malaysian companies scaled back Internet recruitment activities by 11 per cent in March compared to a year ago, according to online jobs firm Monster.com.

The firm's Monster Employment Index (MEI) also indicated that this was the first hiring drop in the first quarter of the year that is traditionally most robust for job seekers.

"The retail sector continued to fare the worst among all job sectors at -36 per cent year-on- year.

"This is a further 14 per cent plunge from the -22 per cent reported between February 2016 and 2017,” it said in a statement accompanying the survey.

By occupation type, customer service personnel were the hardest hit, with the survey showing a 58 per cent contraction in openings in March versus the same period in 2016.

Demand for workers in the technology sector rose, however, with 13 per cent more vacancies.

"The persisting gloomy economic outlook has left employers conservative when it comes to hiring across the board, in spite of the short-term positive economic forecasts in key sectors such as IT, production and manufacturing,” said Monster.com's Sanjay Modi.