Asia PR News

MALAYSIA ,Dec .23 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –

— Sustained growth for the Malaysian economy will fuel private sector
activities, leading to increased consumer consumption that will heat
up the job market in 2006.
— Salaries are anticipated to increase by 5.8% in 2006 with over 60% of
companies in Malaysia planning to hire in the coming year.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a global leader for trusted human
resources and related financial advice, products and services recently unveiled
the latest Total Remuneration Survey (TRS) for Malaysia that covers over 245
companies across nine industries.

With an upbeat economy forecasted for 2006, driven predominantly by
sustained growth in the private sector and consumption, Malaysia’s job market
will continue to enjoy its 14th consecutive year of full employment which will
enable an increase in overall demand for human capital.

Malaysia’s job market heats up…
"With such positive business outlook for 2006, the Mercer 2005 TRS Malaysia
indicates that employers should be prepared to engage in a war for talent,
where retention will be an issue as staff turnover figures climb higher from
10.6% to 12.2% over the 2004 and 2005 surveys, and headcount growth reaches
7.7% during the 2005 survey," Richard Yu, Business Leader, Human Capital
Product Solutions, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Malaysia said.

"Furthermore, Malaysia now has to also compete more aggressively with the
global and regional economies like China and India for the required talents.
This is because both China and India alone are expected to witness a 28%
headcount growth."

With 60% of surveyed companies indicating that they were looking to recruit
as of May 2005, new staff additions are prevalent across functions, with
research and development and sales functions hitting a record high in the
number of new staff additions.

"At Mercer, we believe that the reasons for the upturn in staff hiring,
especially in the areas of research and sales are because Malaysia is
recognizing that it no longer enjoys the low labour costs that it used to, and
the country has taken active measures to move up the value chain. Research and
development is therefore one of the crucial steps required to explore ways to
improve on product and service offerings," Yu said.

Yu also pointed out that Malaysia is increasingly becoming an integral part
of the global economy. More aggressive sales and marketing activities need to
be undertaken if Malaysia is to continue to be competitive in the globalised
marketplace. All these factors have contributed to the need to be able to
attract and retain the required talents in these two fields.

… and salaries are on the increase
Combine all these issues with a robust business environment; companies
appear to be under more pressure than ever to increase salaries in order to
find and retain the right talent.

The Mercer 2005 TRS Malaysia has revealed that whilst forecasted salary
increases for 2006 are expected to average 5.8%, the industries where a
dramatic upward salary can be seen are in the power sector at 6.9%,
pharmaceutical sector at 6.3% and consumer goods sector at 5.7%.

What do these compensation trends and indicators mean for the labour market?
With a sustainable economy, the Malaysian Government’s macroeconomic
policies focusing on growth momentum and generation, the removal of the ringgit
peg in favour of a managed float to enable greater flexibility in fiscal
policies, the continuous improvement in business conditions leading to an
increased private sectors’ investment as well as higher inflow of tourists
coming into the nation, 2006 is poised for even greater economic and overall
business successes.

With such a rosy business environment, Mercer anticipates that companies
will need to be more prepared than ever to have appropriate human capital
strategies and systems in place, in order to meet the challenges of a shifting
labour market, where compensation packages are getting higher and it is
increasingly difficult to attract and retain the necessary talent.

For more information, please contact Mylinh Cheung at +65 63273802/+65
90075822 or mylinh.cheung@mercer.com .

About Mercer TRS
Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s Total Remuneration Survey (TRS) is an
annual (and in some markets a bi-annual study) that covers over 800 benchmark
positions in more than 60 markets around the world. Mercer Human Resource
Consulting’s TRS provides companies with accurate and high quality market data
covering all forms of rewards, compensation and benefits. In many markets,
industry specific positions are also included, allowing pay and benefit levels
to be compared both locally and globally.

About Mercer Human Resources Consulting
Mercer Human Resource Consulting is the global leader for trusted HR and
related financial advice, products and services, with more than 15,700
employees serving clients in over 190 cities and 41 countries and territories
worldwide. In Asia Pacific, Mercer has 2000 employees across 31 offices in 13
markets. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan
Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York,
Chicago, Pacific, and London stock exchanges. For further information, please
visit www.mercerhr.com .

Contact:

Mylinh Cheung
Tel: +65-6327-3802/ +65-9007-5822
Email: mylinh.cheung@mercer.com

SOURCE Mercer Human Resource Consulting