Malaysian employment worst hit by regional slowdown, FT survey finds

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Malaysian workers were the most adversely affected by the economic slowdown in Southeast Asia, with a Financial Times survey showing local firms were the most resistant to new hires.

The FT Confidential Research (FTCR) survey of 1,000 job seekers each in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam found that respondents here reported the most difficulty securing employment.

“Malaysians, in particular, were pessimistic about their prospects. About two-thirds of the respondents described the job market as tough,” the FT report published today read.

FTCR’s survey showed that 26 per cent of Malaysians indicated that it was “very hard” to secure employment while almost 40 per cent of respondents said it was “hard”.

The level of pessimism in Malaysia was the worst of the nations surveyed, surpassing Thailand and Indonesia where 22 per cent and 21 per cent of respondents, respectively, said they found it “very hard” to be employed.

Those indicating that they faced no difficulty in finding jobs were also fewest in Malaysia, with just 2 per cent saying it was “very easy” to gain employment and 6 per cent reporting ease in their job hunts.

Comparatively, 6 per cent of workers in Thailand said it was “very easy” while in Indonesia it was 5 per cent.

Malaysians with jobs were also the most pessimistic of those polled, with 6 per cent saying that they felt “very insecure” about their positions; Thailand was the next worst, at 4 per cent.

Firms in Malaysia have either slowed down hiring or were actively reducing their workforce as the country’s economy slowed due to a commodities crash that has caused the ringgit to depreciate sharply since 2014.

Malay Mail Online reported on January 11 that oil and gas industry workers, once among the highest paid in the country, were now being cut from the workforce as the industry reels from the plunge in oil price, which fell from nearly US$130 (RM541) a barrel in 2013 to less than US$30 now.

Local banks have also begun retrenching sections of their workforce due to weaker trade, particularly banks that expanded regionally.

The nation’s second largest bank, CIMB laid off 4,000 employees last year, in the wake of a tumbling economy owing to the oil price slump.

Online recruitment firms have also reported a slowdown of hiring in the last quarter, with one indicating that employers have cut new openings by as much as a third.