Survey: 80% of M'sians want to work abroad

Jun 20, 11 3:19pm

An online recruitment company said results from a survey on local jobseekers confirm that money, career growth and children's education are the main factors behind the country's brain drain.

JobStreet.com today released the results of their survey of 700 over respondents - over 80 percent of whom are in middle to senior positions - on their interests in working abroad, and the reasons behind it.

The survey revealed just under a third (33 percent) of the respondents are already actively seeking overseas employment while 30 percent are passively looking. Another 30 percent are still weighing the pros and cons of working abroad.

42 percent cited better income as the key reason for their choice, while 24 percent cited career advancement, and 13 percent were thinking of their children's education.

Unfortunately for the government and the Talent Corp, only 2.4 of the respondents said they were staying in the country to “contribute to national interest”.

Over half said they were not working abroad mainly because of their families.

Top in destinations for job seeking was Australia (24 percent) followed by Singapore (16 percent), followed by UK (15 percent), US (10 percent), Far East (8 percent) and New Zealand (7 percent).

The survey, conducted in May, comprised 40 percent senior executives, 29 percent managers and 16 percent senior managers, with junior executives making up the rest.

Jobstreet said 60 percent were male and 40 percent female, while ethnic breakdown was not cited.