Advertising & marketing, as well as MDs & CEs among Malaysia's hottest jobs in Q1 2023

Meanwhile, the highest number of job vacancies were originating from Kuala Lumpur, followed by those in Selangor and Johor.

On 19 June 2023 (Monday), the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released Big Data Analytics Job Market Insights and My Job Profile: Job Vacancies Advertised Online in Malaysia, which compiles job vacancies advertised online by private recruitment portals in Q1 2023. It also provides information on job vacancies offered by employers online such as job type, job profile, economic activity, state and skills. 

Firstly, the report notes the increase in job vacancies advertised online. The number of job vacancies posted online increased by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2023 as compared to 7.5% in the previous quarter, recording a total of 211,509 vacancies (Q4 2022: 204,420). During this quarter, there were 23,339 new establishments offering job vacancies almost double in contrast to 12,256 establishments recorded in Q4 2022.

On a yearly basis, the number of job vacancies registered a double digit growth of 32.9% as against 7.3% in Q4 2022 . Further breakdown of data by month revealed that most of the job vacancies were posted in March 2023 with 96,688 vacancies which made up 45.7% of vacancies in Q1 2023. Meanwhile, there were 65,297 and 49,524 vacancies in February and January 2023, respectively.

Looking into vacancies listed by occupation, almost half of the vacancies were concentrated in the 'professionals' segment with 47.9% or 101,214 vacancies. This was followed by 'technicians and associate professionals' (17.5%), 'managers' (13.8%), and 'clerical support workers' (8.7%).

On the other hand, the most popular jobs this quarter with higher demand were 'advertising and marketing professionals', 'managing directors and chief executives', 'accountants and auditors', 'administrative associate professionals', and 'software developers'.

As for job vacancies by overall economic sector, more than half were largely in the services sector, accounting for 54.9% or 116,163 vacancies in Q1 2023. Upon further analysis, the highest number was posted by wholesale and retail trade (35,956), followed by manufacturing (21,499), professional, scientific and technical activities (13,852), and financial and insurance/takaful activities (13,326).

In terms of job vacancies at the state level, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur continued to record the highest job vacancies at 62,727 during the quarter. This was followed by Selangor and Johor which registered 39,990 and 12,150 vacancies respectively. Federal Territory of Labuan recorded the lowest number of job vacancies with 125 advertisements.

With regards to the most in-demand skills in the labour market, the soft skills most cited by employers are English, communication, Bahasa Malaysia, marketing, and planning. Meanwhile, Mandarin, analysis, filing, Microsoft Office, and project management were the top demanded hard skills during the period.  

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