Malaysians Are Now More Worried About Their Jobs Than Covid-19 According To A Survey
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When the world went into lockdown as governments across the world tried to control the Covid-19 pandemic, we knew these efforts would take a toll on the economy. Now unemployment rates around the world, and locally, have hit record levels.
These results have been reflected in a recent survey which revealed that Malaysians are currently less concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic now that the spread of infection is under control throughout the country, but more distressed about job safety and unemployment.
Conducted by the global market research company Ipsos, the survey revealed that a whopping 51% of Malaysians are concerned about the unemployment rate.
In comparison, only 43% of respondents were concerned about the same thing in April, and 42% in March. In May 2019, only 39% of the respondents were concerned about unemployment.
Meanwhile, in the past few months, the concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic have lessened. There were 85% of respondents who were worried about the pandemic in April 2020, but only 74% felt the same way in May 2020.
In March and April 2020, 15% and 16% of people were concerned about their health. However, in May, this dropped to just 11%.
Even though Malaysians seem to be most concerned about their jobs now, in March 2020, 60% of Malaysians stated that financial and political corruption was at the height of their worries soon after the Perikatan Nasional government took office.
However, by the time May rolled around, these same concerns were down to just 39% as Malaysians moved from the movement control order (MCO) to the conditional movement control order (CMCO).
According to the department of statistics, who released their own survey titled “Effect of Covid-19 on the Economy and Individual”, 50% of self-employed individuals are now jobless due to the effects of the MCO.
Employers also responded that they had been hit badly, with 23.8% of those saying that they have lost their businesses. FYI, employers made up 2.9% of respondents to the survey, or about 4,877 people.
The statistics department’s findings concur with the survey results by Ipsos which found that Malaysians have stopped making major purchases, like cars or homes. In August 2018, 50% of respondents still made those purchases, but in May 2020, only 27% did the same.
Besides cars and homes, even the purchase of household items has declined from 55% in 2018 to just 30% in May 2020.
Ipsos conducts monthly surveys in 28 countries across the globe via the Ipsos Online Panel System.
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