By Yow Hong Chieh | June 20, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Only one in 50 Malaysians seeking greener pastures overseas will consider staying to contribute to national interest, a Jobstreet survey has shown.

Half of those who intend to go abroad — who made up 87 per cent of those surveyed — told the recruitment company they were, however, willing to remain here for family.

The Jobstreet poll also confirmed that higher pay (42 per cent), better career prospects (24 per cent) and children’s education (13 per cent) were the primary reasons for Malaysia’s ongoing brain drain.

Other respondents said they wished to explore travel opportunities (nine per cent) and follow their spouses (three per cent).

Almost one-third of those wanting to leave the country were already actively seeking employment overseas, 30 per cent were “passively looking” while another 30 per cent were still weighing the pros and cons of going abroad.

Top destinations include Australia (24 per cent), Singapore (16 per cent), the UK (15 per cent) and US (10 per cent). Another eight per cent were keen on China, Japan and Korea while New Zealand was favoured by seven per cent of those interviewed.

Singapore, however, remained the favourite destination for senior managers, who made up 16 percent of respondents.

Most preferred to hire recruitment firms and head hunting agencies to help secure jobs overseas while those who went through referrals and advertisements posted in newspapers and websites each made up 17 percent.

JobStreet is an online recruitment company that operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan and Thailand. It currently services over 60,000 corporate customers and boasts over nine million jobseekers in its database.