Online hiring activity in Malaysia reported a two per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in January 2017, said Monster Employment Index (MEI).

In a statement, MEI said this was a seven per cent jump from the negative five per cent y-o-y recorded in December last year.

The information and technology(IT), telecommunications (telecom) / Internet service provider and the information technology enabled service/ business process outsourcing sectors recorded the steepest growth in the series of 36 per cent y-o-y.

This was up 21 per cent from the 15 per cent y-o-y recorded in December last year.

On contrary, the hospitality sector fared the worst, reporting a -19 per cent y-o-y fall in January 2017.

Meanwhile, with specific jobs, software, hardware and telecom talent saw the strongest y-o-y demand at 57 per cent, which was also the group's steepest growth recorded in the series.

"The growing popularity and focus on financial technology (fintech) in Malaysia is likely to have driven much of the hiring growth in the IT and the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sectors.

"Demand in the logistics industry will also likely see a surge along with implementation of the logistics and trade facilitations master plan.

"This is evident in our MEI, where the demand for these professionals has been registering positive growth," it said.

The MEI Malaysia is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities.

The index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry. -- Bernama