There are reasons to believe that digital professionals in Malaysia can expect to earn more now that the economy has reopened and digital adoption has increased since the onset of the pandemic.
This is based on the Digital Job Market Outlook 2022 by The National Tech Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) revealing how demand for digital talents are rising sharply. Employment agency JobStreet by SEEK reports that the number of job postings in the first half of 2022 is almost the same as the whole of 2021 (99,583 and 106,275 respectively).
Wages for these digital professionals are increasing too after stagnating during the pandemic years. On average, monthly salaries are expected to rise by 4.5 per cent next year from a historically low growth rate of 2.2 per cent in 2020.
The report, published in collaboration with JobStreet, the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), was unveiled by PIKOM Chairman Dr Sean Seah today.
Dr Seah revealed that this year’s edition covered a broader scope by incorporating the salary ranges of digital professionals in economies from every continent, which include some of the most attractive markets for digital employment.
Elaborating on the report’s findings, PIKOM Research Committee Chair Mr Woon Tai Hai attributed the growing demand and rising salaries for digital talents to the pivot by society, business, industry and government towards digital technologies during the height of Covid-19.
“The shift towards digital tools and platforms led to a boom in eCommerce, the gig economy, remote working and online interaction. In turn, this has created new opportunities in fintech, software, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, among others,” said Mr Woon.
Work related to cybersecurity offers relatively high returns when compared to other digital clusters. At the other end of the spectrum, remuneration for positions in AI and data science was comparatively low owing most likely to a lack of expertise and experience among Malaysian talents.
Although the digital job market may be buoyant going forward, Mr Woon also expressed concern over the continuing brain drain of local talents seeking more attractive digital job prospects overseas.
As outlined in the report, Malaysia has fallen behind Thailand in terms of salaries for digital professionals apart from economies in the Middle East as well as other developed nations in Asia and the West.
