Pikom: ICT sector sees drop in salaries, still resilient

Tough market: (L-R) Chin and Woon believe that ICT job salary increases in 2015 were reasonable.

The average monthly salary growth for an ICT professional saw an increase of 5.3% in 2015 compared to 10.9% in 2010, according to Pikom’s ICT Job Market Outlook In Malaysia 2016 report

The National ICT Association of Malaysia says while the industry expected a downturn, it didn’t expect an impact of such magnitude.

“People in the ICT industry won’t get that 10% salary increase again. This is a wake up call for the industry,” says Pikom advisor and research committee chair Woon Tai Hai.

Pikom also acknowledges that the 5.4% growth for 2015 for the overall average monthly salary is the lowest in eight years, he says.  

ICT professionals shouldn’t get their hopes up for a big raise this year – Woon says the report estimates salary growth to be 4.7% for 2016.

“It has been a challenging 2015 for the industry. But we have achieved positive growth that has been particularly driven by and thanks to, the expansion in the ICT Services subsector,” says Pikom chairman Chin Chee Seong.

The Jobstreet.com Employment Confidence Index found that most employees are not confident of getting a job given that 46% of prospective employers say that their business have been impacted while 54% say they may even consider downsizing.  Jobstreet collaborated with Pikom on the ICT Job Market report.

The average salary for an ICT professional in 2015 was RM8,114.

“In fact in the fresh graduates, senior executives and middle manager job categories, the oil, gas and petroleum was in the top five paying industries in 2015, posting an average monthly salary of RM2,984, RM8,921 and RM11,804 respectively,” says Woon.

An IT project manager in Malaysia earned more than his or her counterparts in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and India.

However, ICT professionals earned less than their counterparts in the United States and the United Arab Emirates, which contributes to the brain drain issue.

For instance, an IT Project Manager at entry level in the United Arab Emirates and United States respectively earned 2.18 and 1.5 times more than in Malaysia.

Chin says it is imperative that both the industry and Government tackle the issue of talent outflow through ensuring a continuous stream of quality fresh graduates entering the workforce, promoting R&D and commercialisation and maintaining competitive salary packages.

ICT’s contribution to the country GDP was 17.6% in 2015, driven by the ICT services subsector.  It increased from 16.5% in 2014.

Woon says that only a large increase in ICT’s contribution to GDP, would grow salary increases in the ICT industry.

"Despite the number of challenging factors that have the country since 2014 such as the slowdown of the economy, the drop in the prices of crude oil and commodities, the depreciation of the Ringgit against major currencies and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the ICT industry in Malaysia showed resilience and continued its growth path," he says.