{"id":53307,"date":"2026-08-19T11:48:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T06:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/?p=53307"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:13:17","slug":"foundit-insights-tracker-malaysia-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/foundit-insights-tracker-malaysia-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia&#8217;s Hiring Landscape in July 2026:\u00a0foundit\u00a0Insights Tracker"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Overview of hiring activity<\/strong><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Malaysia&rsquo;s online hiring cooled in July 2026 after a long run of gains, though annual demand stayed strong. The&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker was up&nbsp;<strong>34% year-on-year<\/strong>, easing from the 38% pace held over the previous three months. Month-on-month,&nbsp;<strong>hiring fell 6%&nbsp;<\/strong>&mdash; the first monthly decline after six consecutive gains<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The broader picture&nbsp;remains&nbsp;firm:&nbsp;<strong>hiring is up 3% over the last three months&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<strong>24% over the last six<\/strong>. The annual expansion is still investment-led &mdash; hyperscale data-centre&nbsp;construction in Johor and the Klang Valley, a semiconductor and electronics investment surge in Penang, and a heavy public infrastructure&nbsp;programme&nbsp;continue to pull in construction, engineering, technology, and&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;talent. July&rsquo;s dip reflects a broad monthly pullback, sharpest in retail and commercial hiring, rather than a reversal of the year&rsquo;s gains.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Growth stayed broad-based on an annual basis. 8 of the 10 industries tracked by the Index were above year-ago levels in July 2026, and 7 of the 10 functional areas hired above last year. Retail and Hospitality &amp; Travel were the two industries below year-ago levels; on the functional side, Sales &amp; Business Development, Hospitality, and Customer Service were in decline.<br>&nbsp;<br><br>&nbsp;<\/p><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\/08\/fit_MY_July_26.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of &lt;strong&gt;Malaysia Hiring Trends in July 2026&lt;\/strong&gt;.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-38dfdd3a-5e3c-40ed-b34c-c90dd5129864\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fit_MY_July_26.pdf\"><strong>Malaysia Hiring Trends in July 2026<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fit_MY_July_26.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-38dfdd3a-5e3c-40ed-b34c-c90dd5129864\">Download<\/a><\/div><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hiring trends by industry (year-on-year change)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Annual demand remained led by infrastructure, technology, and&nbsp;logistics, even as most industries eased over the month.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (+46%)&nbsp;<\/strong>led all industries, lifted by the hyperscale data-centre&nbsp;build-out in Johor and Selangor, industrial-zone development, and a public infrastructure pipeline still absorbing site, civil, and project roles.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>IT, Telecom\/ISP&nbsp;and <strong><strong><strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/bpo-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>BPO<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\/ITES (+26%)&nbsp;<\/strong>followed, supported by cloud, AI-infrastructure, and semiconductor design work across Johor, Cyberjaya, and Penang, though hiring cooled over the month.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>Logistics, Courier\/Freight\/Transportation, Shipping\/Marine (+22%)&nbsp;<\/strong>held above year-ago levels on e-commerce volumes and continued warehousing and last-mile investment.<br>&nbsp;<br><strong>Production\/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary (+18%)&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Oil and Gas (+18%)&nbsp;<\/strong>both stayed well above last year, the former tracking the manufacturing build-out and the latter holding a higher project base set late last year.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations,&nbsp;Media&nbsp;and Entertainment (+12%)&nbsp;<\/strong>was the only industry to add hiring over the month as well as the year, as brands lifted campaign activity.&nbsp;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>BFSI (+10%)&nbsp;<\/strong>extended its recovery as banks added compliance, risk, and technology capacity<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Retail (&minus;12%)&nbsp;<\/strong>swung below year-ago levels and recorded the steepest monthly fall&nbsp;of&nbsp;any industry (&minus;27%), as retailers pared back after an earlier omnichannel and quick-commerce hiring push. Hospitality &amp; Travel (&minus;17%)&nbsp;remained&nbsp;the weakest, with forward bookings for the second half still below last year and hotels staffing to actual occupancy rather than the Visit Malaysia 2026 target.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hiring trends by functional area (year-on-year change)<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h3><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hiring exceeded year-ago levels in 7 of the 10 functional areas in July 2026, led by supply chain roles, though no function added hiring over the month.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Purchase\/Logistics\/Supply Chain (+44%)&nbsp;<\/strong>again recorded the highest annual growth, as&nbsp;logistics&nbsp;networks, manufacturing supply chains, and e-commerce distribution expanded together.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>HR &amp; Admin (+11%)&nbsp;<\/strong>rose as employers added recruitment and workforce-management capacity to support the pace of hiring elsewhere, while&nbsp;<strong><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/production-engineering-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Engineering\/Production<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> (+9%)&nbsp;<\/strong>tracked the construction and manufacturing build-out.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/search\/marketing-jobs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marketing &amp; Communications<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> (+6%)<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Finance &amp; Accounts (+4%)<\/strong>, and&nbsp;<strong>IT (+3%)&nbsp;<\/strong>posted smaller annual gains, with technology hiring now weighted towards infrastructure and field roles rather than software headcount.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sales &amp; Business Development (&minus;4%)&nbsp;<\/strong>slipped below year-ago levels and fell 18% over the month, as commercial teams pulled back alongside retail.&nbsp;<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hospitality (&minus;32%)&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Customer Service (&minus;40%)&nbsp;<\/strong>remained&nbsp;the weakest, with hotel and travel operators staffing lean against softer arrivals and AI-driven self-service continuing to reduce frontline support headcount. <\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, hiring held up best where physical infrastructure is being built and where supply chains are absorbing the resulting output.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About foundit<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">foundit (formerly Monster APAC &amp; ME) is a leading talent platform that provides comprehensive hiring solutions across India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. With over 20 years of experience, it has transformed the recruitment landscape through AI-driven job matching, candidate insights, and end-to-end hiring support. Serving millions of jobseekers and thousands of employers,&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;is committed to enabling smarter and faster hiring decisions across the region.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview of hiring activityMalaysia&rsquo;s online hiring cooled in July 2026 after a long run of gains, though annual demand stayed strong. The&nbsp;foundit&nbsp;Insights Tracker was up&nbsp;34% year-on-year, easing from the 38% pace held over the previous three months. Month-on-month,&nbsp;hiring fell 6%&nbsp;&mdash; the first monthly decline after six consecutive gainsThe broader picture&nbsp;remains&nbsp;firm:&nbsp;hiring is up 3% over the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/foundit-insights-tracker-malaysia-july-2026\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Malaysia&#8217;s Hiring Landscape in July 2026:\u00a0foundit\u00a0Insights Tracker<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/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":["post-53307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights-tracker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53307","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=53307"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53511,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53307\/revisions\/53511"}],"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=53307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foundit.my\/career-advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}