Online job vacancies in Malaysia grew by 29.3% in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2022, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Vacancies reached a record 261,231 in Q2. The number of job vacancies advertised online surged 23.5% in the second quarter of 2023. During this quarter, there were 70,571 establishments that offered job vacancies, a notable increase from 55,006 establishments reported in the preceding quarter.

In terms of job vacancies by occupation category, professionals accounted for the largest share during the quarter, with 48.1% or 125,625 vacancies. This was followed by technicians and associate professionals (18.3%), managers (15.1%), and service and sales workers (6.9%).

Consequently, the most in-demand jobs during the quarter were advertising and marketing professionals (20,846), managing directors and chief executives (12,703), administrative associate professionals (12,284), accountants and auditors (10,781), and software developers (7,779).

As for job vacancies by economic sector, services formed the largest percentage share of job vacancies advertised online at 59.0% by registering 154,134 vacancies in Q2 2023.

Pertaining to job vacancies advertised online by states, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur continued to record the highest vacancies during the quarter with 59,222 positions (22.7%). Selangor ranked second with a share of 7.8% or 20,438 vacancies.

The data from Statistics Malaysia is based on job vacancies advertised online by popular private recruitment websites. The Department said the statistics must be interpreted with caution due to data limitations, as they do not reflect the entire population of job vacancies in Malaysia.