KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIANS are more willing to do jobs previously considered undesirable to stay afloat during these trying times, as the labour market takes a hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Industry experts said data had shown that thousands of local job seekers were open to changes and demonstrated greater flexibility and adaptability to new or challenging working environments by taking up whatever skilled or unskilled jobs they could.
This includes sectors different from their previous employment or educational background, as well as jobs that were previously almost exclusively dominated by foreigners.
Unemployment rates rose to 5.3 per cent in May — the highest since 1990 — from 3.2 per cent in January as the number of unemployed people skyrocketed from 511,700 to 826,100, according to the Statistics Department.
JobStreet Malaysia said one in three people who were working pre-Covid 19 had been permanently retrenched (20 per cent) or remain in employment, but are not working (13 per cent).
Its country manager, Gan Bock Herm, said there was, however, still a high demand for jobs, with more than 74 million job searches recorded on Google in March.
"Eighty per cent of the time, JobStreet was directly searched when searching for a job site platform," he told the New Straits Times.
He said as the country entered the recovery stage, recent JobStreet data revealed that job offers had increased by 78 per cent from April to June.
This, Gan said, showed that many companies had lifted their hiring freeze.
He said there was a shift in industry hiring patterns triggered by the pandemic and Movement Control Order (MCO), which led to high demand for some jobs.
The Covid-19 crisis has forced industries and businesses to rethink the way they do business, with an increased focus on digitalising operations.
"The growth in search and in applications involved roles that can be remotely executed through technology infrastructure.
"Assessment of search data on the JobStreet platform shows that some industries are still actively hiring during the pandemic, revealing that roles in the IT, software and manufacturing industries are among the most sought-after, seeing surges in search by as much as 250 per cent for software-related roles.
"IT and software and manufacturing both saw a growth of 40 per cent in search."
Based on employer responses in JobStreet's recent survey, roles in administration/human resources (25 per cent), sales/customer service/business development (24 per cent) and information technology (23 per cent) were expected to be highly sought-after in the coming months.
Gan said these roles were likely to be of junior or entry level (67 per cent).
He said JobStreet was aligned with the government's commitment to connecting Malaysians who are unemployed due to the pandemic with jobs.
"We have worked with strategic partners such as the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and Social Security Organisation to facilitate training, upskilling and job placement opportunities for unemployed Malaysians.
"JobStreet's #WorkNow initiative launched in June has registered more than 20,000 applicants that are well-positioned to secure jobs from potential employers."
He said while the Covid-19 situation was progressively improving, challenges in the job market were expected to remain for the foreseeable future.
"Businesses will need to continue to innovate and optimise their recruitment practices to ensure they identify the right talent for their workforce.
"Job seekers will also need to adapt to the evolving job market to ensure they remain relevant."
Maukerja chief executive officer Ray Teng said the MCO had led to changes in business models that saw traditional brick-and-mortar businesses establish an online presence, and producers and manufacturers selling their goods directly to consumers, thus eliminating middlemen.
He said the change led to the creation of new jobs, resulting in huge growth in jobs like e-marketing, videographers, graphic designers and delivery services.
"Doing away with middlemen means businesses now need to deal with consumers directly, and so they require a sales team, marketing team, customer service team and operations team."
He said businesses that relied on foreign labour were heavily impacted by the MCO as workers could not return due to Covid-19 or were sent back because they were illegal.
Now these businesses have to shift their focus to local labour.
Teng said there were changes in job seekers' perspectives as they were now more open to opportunities, more able to adapt and have lower preferences as long as they were able to get an income.
"They may not have even considered some jobs pre-MCO, but are now willing to due to limited opportunities in the market and stiff competition from fresh graduates, retrenched workers and people looking for a job change.
"For example, we came across at least 10 local workers at the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market, contrary to claims that Malaysians were not interested in 3D jobs (dirty, dangerous and difficult).
"Some were previously employed in the tourism sector and at gym centres.
"Recently, more than 800 locals applied for work at a glove factory looking for operators, and half of them (applicants) are diploma or degree holders."
On May 4, Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara said 1,200 locals had applied to work at the Selayang wholesale market.
Teng said the job market was recovering as the number of job ads had doubled from 3,000 during the MCO to about 6,000 per month now.
"Job seeker traffic grew by 50 per cent, especially in May, June and July, to about 150,000, but has not yet recovered to the previous level."