Higher demand but less opportunities for govt jobs

The number of civil service jobs being offered has decreased from 46,503 in 2011 to 30,964 in 2015.

There currently is a mismatch between demand and supply of civil service jobs, despite the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) target of creating an additional 3.3 million jobs by 2020.

According to a report announced by the Public Services Commission (or Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, SPA), the demand for public sector jobs is at an unbelievable high level and exceeds the availability of such jobs.

From 2011 to 2015, the SPA received more than one million applications each year for jobs in the civil service.

A member of Parliament for Serdang, Ong Kian Ming, wrote in Malaysiakini that jobs in the civil service continues and will continue to be sought after because of job security and other perks such as medical care, various allowances and government pensions.

He also mentioned that, another significant point from this trend is as an indicator that the private sector is not offering enough well-paying jobs to stem the demand for public sector jobs.

Those who apply for civil service jobs the most are also those with the lowest qualifications. Among those successful applicants, a majority of them have only up to a certificate level qualification at most.

In 2015 alone, 54 percent of the successful applicants were hired for jobs which required only a PMR, SPM or Certificate level qualification.