uhh the title of your topic is a bit different from your viewpoint.  Let me explain,  I've been in the IT field for 8+ years, 4 of them were in states.  IT sucks in Malaysia, not because I cannot find a job, in fact with my experience it is very easy to find and keep a job.  The problem is IT professionals are really treated as low level personnels here in Malaysia.  The Malaysian industry has got the concept of manager all wrong.  This is especially true in the IT field, I cannot comment about other fields.  So please note, all my comments hereforth relate to the IT field, to be precise as a software developer,  even if I dont explicitly say so. 

In Malaysia, a Manager is considered a senior position, one where you get promoted to through your experience and contributions.  It is the next step necessary for a bigger pay check.  The problem is IT is a technical field.  If a technical person has a lot of years of technical experience and a lots of contributions, by promoting them to a Manager, you are causing problems for the company.  First off, they are not trained management professionals, the years they accumulate in their experience are primarily in their technical field of expertise, sure they are managed so they can relate how they were manage and use that, but that is totally different from a trained management professional with real management experience.  Second, even if you provide training, they will not be able to get accustomed to their new role, in fact some people might not even have the people/soft skills necessary no matter how much training you give them.  This not only jeopardizes the person's contribution but also all those being managed by him/her.  In fact there's a known principle to avoid in any organization, its called the Peter Principle

Next is the vicious cycle of the IT field in Malaysia.  Dont ask me which came first, I dont even know, but I am caught up in it like most IT professionals.  Because we have bad management in the IT field, turnover rate is quite high, people dont tend to stay long as such, companies find it hard to promote within the ranks.  So some will promote loyalists, even though over the years their technical contributions on averate may be well below par than someone who has not worked all that long in the company.  Again this is just carrying on the vicious cycle, as the person promoted is only contributing to bad management and high turnover.

As a strong counter case outside of Malaysia, let me say my first job was at a big MNC company in the states.  The corporate structure is such a way that the technical ladder and the non-technical ladder has its own structure each with a common executive rank.  For example, my software team lead actually has a higher executive rank than our manager.  They follow a different corporate ladder, with my team lead in the technical ladder and my manager in the non-technical ladder.  My team lead has a lot of years as a software developer hence his position, our manager has less years as a manager hence her position.  However this does not change things.  We still report to both with the team lead responsible for resolving technical issues and the manager for non-technical issues.  Although our manager still oversee the whole project and report to upper management, she must accept any technical decisions made by the team lead.  Our manager is a trained management professional, bachelors and masters in management with minor in IT.  Started as a management trainee, worked up to assistant manager and through the ranks till she became a manager.  Her role is to resolve non-technical problems and the overall project issues.  The system just works.

Now compare this to IT in Malaysia.  Manager use to be an senior technical professional.  No management experience other than being managed once (which is very different from managing).  Has technical professional experience but mostly deprecated as technology changes so fast.  Most of the time will not accept suggested technical solutions different from what they have in mind even though they are no longer in a position to make technical decisions, but because they used to be a technical professional and is now the Manager with the final say their ego and pride will get the better of themselves.  When problems arises in the future, the technical person is always to blame. Another factor, which is just my speculation, that contribute to this problem is culture.  We as Malaysian has the mentality of 'The boss is always correct, regardless'.  This is a very bad mentality and behavior to cultivate.

Note, this is not all companies in Malaysia, no doubt some people has good experiences.  But my personal experience over the few companies I've been with has the same consistent problems.  Bad management with high technical staff turnovers because the technical staff are always to blame.

Currently, I'm fortunate enough to be in a company where although my manager was promoted from a technical position, he does not behave as above.  You know why? Cause he isnt Malaysian,  he does not have the mentality of 'I'm the boss, my word is final'.  He will accept that sometimes a technical problem can never be solved within a given time frame, forcing it will not do any good.  One of the most common phrase I've heard from my past managers in Malaysian IT companies is 'I want this by XX date' regardless if it is not feasible with the given resource.  That is just plain stupid and arrogant.  That is why IT sucks in Malaysia, not because the fresh grads dont have enough skill, technical skills can be trained, in the IT world technology changes so fast, we often have to retrain experienced staff, but IT sucks in Malaysia because we have a vicious cycle of bad management practice causing high turn-overs which causes bad management promotion decision which cause bad management practice which cause high turn-overs, etc.

If you're a fortunate one working in a company different from this, lucky you.  If you dont believe me try joining a local company, especially the local financial/banking vendors.  See your life drift away as you work 12 hours a day 7 days a week because your boss says he/she wants this by 1 week when the actual requirements will take 6 months and he/she wont be reasonable because he/she is the boss.