Salary outline in Malaysia 2013 (IT)

The aim of this ‘Employment Outlook and Salary Guide’ is to provide an insight to the latest salary ranges for various positions across industries in Malaysia through a compilation of salaries and job titles. The salary ranges are indicative of actual transactions between employers and employees and represent a reflection of the marketplace. The compiled findings are presented in an easy to read format for your reference. Asia’s economic growth faces better prospects contributed by rising private consumption and stronger intraregional in 2013 and 2014. Interestingly, Southeast Asia was the only sub–region to see growth accelerate year–on–year in 2012, led by a recovery in Thailand and strong public spending in the Philippines. This buoyancy is set to continue with GDP growth projected at 5.4 per cent in 2013 and 5.7 per cent in 2014. Similarly, the Malaysian economy is clearly on track to achieve high income and advanced nation status by 2020. While the country’s GDP forecast is expected to ease to 5.3 per cent in 2013, it is anticipated to pick up pace to 5.5 per cent in 2014 as the global economic environment improves. The Malaysian Government forecasts show growth is expected across the services sector and oil and gas with more modest growth in manufacturing and construction.

As Malaysia continues to transform itself from an input–driven growth strategy to be a growing knowledge and servicebased economy, it will face challenges such as a lack in workforce planning and insufficient investment in staff training and development. This could potentially present barriers to the country’s economic strategy of moving up the value chain. As the high demand for highly–skilled workforce (both at the entry and experienced levels) in professional and technical skills areas continue, there is an urgent need to have more focus placed on identifying future skill requirements as well as on investment in workforce innovation and up skilling the existing workforce.

Additionally, Malaysia introduced a minimum wage for the private sector this year which could potentially assist in addressing wage inequality and encourage greater workforce participation rates. While salaries are expected to see modest growth over the coming year, large increases are expected for a range of “in demand” roles in sectors such as Information Technology, Manufacturing, Engineering, Banking and Finance, and Pharmaceutical. The Malaysian Government has also set a target of increasing female workforce participation from the current 46 per cent to 55 per cent by 2015.

This positive initiative is expected to increase productivity and address skills shortages in the long run. This talent pool remains relatively untapped despite consensus among women-focused research studies that the increased presence of women in the workforce mitigates business risks and increases competitiveness and productivity. Whilst we hope this ‘Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2013/2014 will serve as a handy reference tool for you, we are always on hand to assist you with current data and also to support you in developing recruiting strategies and programs to suit your specific needs.