'Almost half of self-employed lost jobs, financially not ready for MCO extension'

Almost half of all self-employed Malaysians have lost their jobs and are financially not ready to face an extension of the movement control order, according to a survey by the Department of Statistics.

The online survey covering 168,182 respondents from March 23 to 31 found those who are self-employed to be the worst-hit by the economic downturn brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It found 46.6 percent of self-employed people have lost their jobs, while 25.1 percent are working from home, 13.8 percent are working fewer hours and 9.2 percent are on no-pay leave. The next largest category to suffer job losses are employers, at 23.8 percent.

In contrast, only 1.8 percent of private-sector workers have lost their jobs while only 0.4 percent of government-linked companies (GLCs) and multinational corporation (MNCs) employees have lost their jobs.

The vast majority in these categories are working from home or working reduced hours.

But the impact on the private sector is still significant as notably, 13.2 percent of workers say they have been put on no-pay leave.

Similarly, the majority of self-employed workers, employers and private sector employees say they are financially not ready for an extension of the MCO.

Only GLCs and MNCs employees see a majority saying they are financially prepared to face an extension of the MCO.

A total of 81.9 percent of self-employed workers say they are unprepared, followed by employers at 71.3 percent and private-sector workers at 65.1 percent.

Only 45 percent of GLC employees say they are unprepared while 36.2 percent of MNC employees say they are not ready.

This is, in part, influenced by the amount of savings one has.

The survey found 71.4 percent of self-employed workers only have less than a month's worth of savings.

This is in contrast to private-sector workers (58 percent), employers (49.2 percent), GLC employees (38.9 percent) and MNC employees (31.2 percent).

In terms of industries, the worst-hit are food and beverage, plantations and the fisheries industry.

A total of 35.4 percent of those working in the food and beverages industry say they have lost their jobs followed by 33 percent in the fisheries industry and 21.1 percent in the plantations industry.

Malaysia had been under a partial lockdown since March 19 to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MCO was supposed to end on March 31 but was extended until April 14.

Under the MCO, all non-essential businesses and services must close while people are only allowed to leave their homes for approved reasons.

Foreigners are also not allowed into the country while Malaysians cannot leave.

The measures have brought part of the country's economy to a standstill. - Mkini