INGENIEUR
Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang, Tun
Razak Exchange, River of Life, Bandar Malaysia
at Sungei Besi as well as the various economic
corridors – Iskandar Malaysia, Northern Corridor
Economic Region (NCER), East Coast Economic
Region (ECER), Sabah Development Corridor
(SDC) and Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy
(SCORE).
ICT EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK AND PERCEPTION
From a total of 227 JobStreet.com clients,
managers and senior managers across various
industries in Malaysia, it was gathered that the
overall ICT employment still remains high, despite
fluctuations in the economy as shown in the
JobStreet.com Confidence Index (JECI) in Figure
7. JECI ranges from zero (very poor) to 100 (very
good) where a low index shows a tough job market
situation where employment seekers find it difficult
to get a job and high index indicates a comfortable
job market, where people are able to secure a
good job easily.
Similarly, the average monthly salary of
an ICT professional in Malaysia in 2013 was
RM7,152; see in Figure 8. This represents an
increase of 7.2% from RM6,673 in 2012. This
increase was well above the average inflation rate
of 3.2% in 2013, indicating a comfortable living for
ICT professionals in Malaysia. Given the optimistic
outlook of the economy and other positive factors
within the ICT industry, PIKOM anticipates an 8.7%
rise in the average salary of ICT professionals in
2014, to a figure no less than RM7,776 per month.
The Figure 9 shows a comparative analysis
of the remuneration earned by ICT professionals
in selected Asian and English speaking countries.
Here, average remuneration earned by each
country is compared against Malaysia, giving rise
to a scaling factor that is free from bias caused by
foreign exchange fluctuation. For the purpose of
this benchmarking exercise, Malaysia assumes a
scaling factor of one. The median data published
by PayScale for the year 2013 was used. Such
benchmarking statistics indicate the challenge
that Malaysia face with regard to local ICT talent
migration and retention, which accentuating with
increasing globalization and market liberalization
policies and phenomenon.
With purchasing power parity (PPP)
adjustment, which takes into account for inflation
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and foreign exchange rates as well as standard
of living, the result showed that Viet Nam, Hong
Kong, China, Singapore and Thailand in Asia paying
higher salaries for ICT professionals than their
counterparts in Malaysia.
Malaysians are also typically known to
search of better opportunities beyond the shores
of Asia. The distant lands that become attractive
destinations for Malaysians are mostly English
speaking countries, in particular United States
of America, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. Despite the distance, these
countries have long diplomatic and trade ties with
Malaysia. Moreover, English is a popular lingua
franca among Malaysian businesses especially
among the private sector and there has been
always a natural attraction for Malaysians to do
more businesses with such English speaking
countries. These destinations are no exceptions
for ICT professionals as well, especially software
developers and networking engineers who are in
demand at all times globally. Thus, in the English
speaking world, United States, New Z