We can blame it on the ongoing pandemic, but there are plenty of other reasons why young employees are finding it difficult to land a job.

Hence, they are now looking elsewhere.

Looking for a better opportunity

A recent survey revealed that a majority of young employees in Malaysia have considered leaving the country for better career opportunities, Bernama reported.

The 2021 Employee Movement and Retention Report survey, which was conducted by Employment Hero, polled 1,004 employees in the country for their thoughts on their careers.

Image credit: Malay Mail

And out of that number, a whopping 72 per cent of them are considering leaving Malaysia, the main reason being improved career prospects and better pay.

The number is significantly higher than our neigbour Singapore as only 55 per cent of them are thinking of leaving their own country.

Ben Thompson, the founder of Employment Hero, said in a press release quoted by the news agency that the pandemic has given a lot of young employees good reasons to venture overseas for their careers, or change their career path completely.

Malaysians not loving their jobs

The survey also revealed that a majority of Malaysians are not very happy at their current jobs.

A total of 61 per cent of those surveyed revealed that they are planning on looking for a new role within the next year or so.

That figure ranks the highest out of all countries surveyed, with Singapore (59 per cent), Australia (48 per cent), New Zealand (50 per cent) and the United Kingdom (55 per cent) rounding up the top five.

"The biggest indication that something needs to change is that 24 per cent of Malaysians say they ‘love’ their job and 45 per cent say they ‘like’ it, but most of them have already planned to leave it.

"This is a problem for local employers and should prompt many to reassess their policies, working culture and retention strategies," Thompson was quoted as saying.

Some of the reasons given were lack of career development (36 per cent), a lack of appreciation or recognition (27 per cent) and a lack of training opportunities (26 per cent).

"Beyond this, reasons extended to no pay rise, management woes, feeling overworked, and a lack of flexibility," Thompson added.