This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 23, 2020 - November 29, 2020

BESIDES projections of deflated salary growth, the pay scale for non-executive or blue-collar roles has also seen a drop because of the knock-on effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to data from FastJobs Malaysia, a tech-driven job platform for entry-level and non-executive employment, the median salary has dropped by an average of RM200 across all non-executive roles since the period before the Movement Control Order (MCO) for operational and non-executive roles.

“As organisations and SMEs are still taking cost-cutting measures to ensure the survival of their businesses, the budget for hiring has also decreased correspondingly, resulting in both a decrease in the number of vacancies and also the salary offered.

“In addition, we observed the trend of more part-time jobs and contract roles offered, which also has an impact on salaries and wages offered,” FastJobs general manager Joelle Pang tells The Edge.

Pang says during the months when the MCO was eased, FastJobs saw a significant increase in and recovery to the number of jobs posted on its platform, as employers started returning with urgent hiring needs.

“This is a good indicator that the job market will be on track to recover once the number of new Covid-19 infections are under control and MCO restrictions can be lifted, so that businesses are able to start planning for recovery and resume their operations, introducing more jobs back to the economy.

“In the recent weeks, we have worked with multiple employers that had to put their business expansion plans, such as the opening of new outlets, on hold as they had to react to the recent Conditional MCO developments at short notice.”

Pang says demand shifted towards part-time and contract workers in the months when employers were returning to the FastJobs platform with urgent employment opportunities and vacancies.

“We believe that this trend will continue, where demand for part-time jobs will increase compared with that for full-time jobs once the CMCO is lifted, as more employers are looking for part-time workers to reduce their business risks before the market fully recovers.

“It also presents a great opportunity for jobseekers, especially those who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19, to secure temporary jobs while getting back on their feet.”

On what kinds of jobs are in demand for the blue-collar worker market, Pang says there is sustained pent-up demand for workers from hypermarkets, convenience stores and food and beverage outlets, as these businesses continue to receive support from consumers.

“Manufacturing is also a sector which has gained huge traction and demand for workers is even surpassing the pre-MCO days. Businesses which were previously hit due to supply chain disruptions are now returning to full capacity, and clearing their backlog of projects and deliveries.

“In addition, manufacturing and despatching of personal protective equipment have also driven up demand for operational workers significantly,” she says.

Pang adds that e-commerce is on the rise as more people order things online, hence there is an increasing need for despatch, logistics and warehousing.

On the other hand, jobs which require high contact and close proximity have plummeted in demand. These jobs are in industries such as beauty and wellness, fitness and events.

“In part, it is also due to businesses in these industries not being able to operate or reopen at full capacity,” says Pang.

On how the Covid-19 pandemic has reshaped the blue-collar market, Pang says non-executive jobseekers are becoming a lot more tech-savvy and relying a lot more on job portals such as FastJobs and social media platforms to search for the job opportunities that are still currently available. This is because traditional methods of job hunting such as knocking on doors are no longer as readily accessible for jobseekers.

“Employers that used to hire the majority of their operational workforce through walk-ins to their outlets are also leveraging the online presence of job portals and their social media channels to reach out to jobseekers,” she says.

There is also an increased volume of interviews conducted via technology platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangout and WhatsApp video calls.

“An interesting insight is that while employers are conducting the virtual interviews via their computers, jobseekers are still very much mobile-first, and relying on their smartphones and mobile apps to be assessed for these job opportunities,” Pang says.

FastJobs recently supported an internationally renowned Japanese brand specialist store and discount chain hypermarket to run an e-FastRecruit exercise — a large-scale mass hiring campaign to fulfil its operational needs for the opening of its first-ever outlet in Malaysia. The hiring event was conducted 100% virtually, from application, candidate screening, scheduling and conducting of interviews, all the way to e-signing of the offer letter.

“It was done to great success with an interview show-up rate of 70% (compared with the traditional walk-in interview show-up rate of 40%), totalling up to almost 300 virtual interviews conducted,” says Pang.

Looking ahead, Pang expects the outlook for non-executive jobs to improve in 2021, in tandem with the recovery of Malaysia’s trade and economy and with increasingly positive updates on effective Covid-19 vaccines being developed.

“Job opportunities are emerging as the market recovers. These include home-based jobs such as answering surveys and completing microtasks, which can be done via their smartphones and can help jobseekers earn an additional income since many of them have lost their jobs,” she says. She adds that gig workers and freelancers such as designers, drivers and delivery workers will also have opportunities to earn an additional income.

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