{"id":50689,"date":"2026-04-01T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/?p=50689"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:58:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:28:36","slug":"foundit-insights-tracker-malaysia-feb-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/foundit-insights-tracker-malaysia-feb-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia&#8217;s Hiring Landscape in February 2026:\u00a0foundit\u00a0Insights Tracker\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Overview of Hiring Activity<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malaysia&#8217;s online hiring activity continued its positive trajectory in February 2026, with the&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker rising 9% year-on-year. Month-on-month, hiring edged up 2%, reflecting a more tempered near-term pace even as the broader trend stays constructive \u2014 hiring is up 9% over the last 3 months and 11% over the last 6 months, underpinned by stronger GDP growth in late 2025, persistently low unemployment, and sustained activity across services, manufacturing, and construction. Employers are adding capacity selectively \u2014 skills-based and targeted \u2014 rather than expanding broadly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>8 out of 10 industries tracked by the Index registered year-on-year growth in February 2026, with Engineering, Logistics, and Advertising leading the charge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file aligncenter\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fit_MY_-February26-1.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of &lt;strong&gt;Malaysia Hiring Trends in February 2026&lt;\/strong&gt;.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-4068d978-407f-489f-97bf-b6a8cf90ca18\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fit_MY_-February26-1.pdf\"><strong>Malaysia Hiring Trends in February 2026<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fit_MY_-February26-1.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-4068d978-407f-489f-97bf-b6a8cf90ca18\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hiring Trends by Industry (YoY change)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The market is broadly positive at the industry level, with only Retail and BFSI in negative territory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In demand<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Engineering, Construction &amp; Real Estate (+28%)<\/strong>&nbsp;The standout&nbsp;performer. Infrastructure execution, urban development, and commercial project pipelines continue to fuel strong demand across technical, site, and project management roles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Logistics, Courier\/Freight\/Transportation &amp; Shipping\/Marine (+27%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Sustained e-commerce volumes, active trade flows, and supply chain expansion are driving robust hiring across fulfilment, transport, and&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;operations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Others (+26%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Broad growth across niche and mixed-sector categories points to improving confidence and selective expansion across smaller verticals.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advertising, Market Research, PR, Media &amp; Entertainment (+19%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Rising corporate&nbsp;spend&nbsp;on digital marketing, performance media, and content is sustaining strong hiring across creative, media, and campaign functions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>IT, Telecom\/ISP &amp; BPO\/ITES (+11%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Selective but meaningful growth, driven by demand for digital, cloud, cybersecurity, and efficiency-led roles as&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;push ahead with technology transformation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/oil-gas-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oil &amp; Gas<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> (+11%)<\/strong>\u00a0A notable uptick, though hiring\u00a0remains\u00a0measured as capital discipline and restrained upstream investment continue to cap net additions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Production\/Manufacturing, Automotive &amp; Ancillary (+4%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Steady but limited expansion as firms&nbsp;prioritise&nbsp;automation and productivity over significant headcount growth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hospitality &amp; Travel (+2%)<\/strong>&nbsp;A modest return to positive territory as operators&nbsp;stabilise&nbsp;staffing after post-pandemic&nbsp;normalisation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facing challenges<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BFSI (\u22126%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Banks and financial institutions are focused on automation, productivity, and selective backfilling, with net hiring now in decline as consolidation takes hold.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Retail (\u221214%)<\/strong>&nbsp;The steepest industry decline, reflecting cautious consumer spending and ongoing cost&nbsp;optimisation&nbsp;at store level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hiring Trends by Functional Area (YoY change)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Functional hiring is more mixed, with 5 out of 10 areas recording year-on-year growth. Supply chain, HR, and engineering functions lead; customer service and hospitality roles face severe pressure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In demand<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Purchase\/Logistics\/Supply Chain (+18%)<\/strong>&nbsp;The top-performing function. Companies are doubling down on supply chain resilience, inventory control, and&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;optimisation&nbsp;amid steady trade and e-commerce activity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Others (+12%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Broad growth across miscellaneous functions reflects improving momentum across a range of support and operational roles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HR &amp; Admin (+10%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Renewed demand points to workforce&nbsp;stabilisation, compliance needs, and replacement hiring as&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;rebuild&nbsp;people&nbsp;management capacity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/production-engineering-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Engineering\/Production<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong>(+4%)<\/strong>\u00a0Positive momentum aligns with broader strength in construction and logistics-linked industries, with hiring supporting ongoing projects and operational continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/home\/search\/finance-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Finance<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong> &amp; Accounts (+3%)<\/strong>\u00a0A reversal from recent softness, with\u00a0organisations\u00a0strengthening financial controls and compliance functions amid tighter cost management.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Facing challenges<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/marketing-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marketing &amp; Communications<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> (\u22121%)<\/strong>\u00a0Marginal decline as performance marketing budgets tighten slightly and headcount additions give way to productivity\u00a0optimisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sales &amp; Business Development (\u22126%)<\/strong>&nbsp;Firms&nbsp;remain&nbsp;cautious on frontline commercial expansion,&nbsp;prioritising&nbsp;productivity&nbsp;and existing account&nbsp;monetisation&nbsp;over headcount additions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>IT (\u22127%)<\/strong>&nbsp;A pullback despite sector-level growth in tech industries, suggesting demand is&nbsp;consolidating&nbsp;around specialist profiles rather than broad tech hiring.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hospitality Roles (\u221236%)<\/strong>&nbsp;A steep functional decline as staffing levels correct after post-pandemic&nbsp;normalisation, with operators focused firmly on leaner models over workforce expansion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Customer Service (\u221239%)<\/strong>&nbsp;The sharpest functional decline. Automation, self-service adoption, and AI-led support models are rapidly&nbsp;hollowing out&nbsp;demand for traditional customer service roles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker (fit) Malaysia (formerly the Monster Employment Index) is a monthly benchmark of online hiring activity across the nation. By&nbsp;analysing&nbsp;millions of job postings, fit provides&nbsp;timely, data-led intelligence on recruitment trends across industries, occupations, and skill categories, helping&nbsp;organisations&nbsp;and talent navigate an evolving&nbsp;labour&nbsp;market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview of Hiring Activity&nbsp; Malaysia&#8217;s online hiring activity continued its positive trajectory in February 2026, with the&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker rising 9% year-on-year. Month-on-month, hiring edged up 2%, reflecting a more tempered near-term pace even as the broader trend stays constructive \u2014 hiring is up 9% over the last 3 months and 11% over the last 6 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-50689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-insights-tracker"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50691,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50689\/revisions\/50691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}