KUALA LUMPUR: The average salary growth rate in the information and communications technology (ICT) is expected to moderate further to 3.8 per cent in 2019 in line with the lukewarm expansion of the industry in the last few years, said the National ICT Association of Malaysia (Pikom).
Its organising chair of the research and publication committee Woon Tai Hai said, salaries in the ICT industry grew at the slowest pace this decade.
“The overall average monthly salary in 2018 only four per cent higher than the previous year and significantly below the average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 6.7 per cent over the nine-year period of 2009 – 2018.
“The slowdown in salary growth reflects the tepid expansion of the ICT industry, whose share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by only 0.1 percentage point to 18.3 per cent in 2017,” he said in a statement in conjunction with the launch of ICT Job Market Outlook In Malaysia 2019.
However, the demand for ICT jobs he said remained healthy, but employers seem to be more discerning in their employment choices with job providers in 2018 appear to be more conservative in their remuneration and at the same time more demanding in terms of experience and specific skill set.
Jobs is still growing but at specific areas such as fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and Internet of Things (IoT), he explained.
He commented that the declining growth trends of both salaries and job openings are likely a response to the recalibration of the economy following last year’s change of government, resulting in employers taking on a more cautious and wait-and-see attitude.
Meanwhile, Pikom’s chairman Ganesh Kumar Bangah foresees a moderate improvement in this year’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) with most projections by domestic and international agencies falling within the 4.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent range.
“On the positive side, we expect an economic rebound in the second half of 2020. It is hopeful that government spending would restart to spur the economy. Then the IT economy would grow together with other economy,” said Ganesh.
The Malaysian economy he expected would experience a turn around by mid-2020 with the government’s newly introduced initiatives and programmes beginning to bear fruit.
The government according to him is also focussing its attention to the 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution), Industry4WRD, robotics, analytics and Artificial Intelligence as the enablers of the country’s future economy.
“There is definitely light at the end of this tunnel, and the encouraging news is that many of our economic indicators such as employment, domestic investment, inflation, interest rates and exports are still healthy. However, we must not rest on our laurels as global factors are beyond our control,” he added. – Bernama
