1 in 5 Malaysians out of job due to COVID-19

A JobStreet survey also revealed that 35% have suffered a pay cut of more than 30% during the ‘Movement Control Order’ period.
By: | June 4, 2020
Topics: Asia-Pacific | Job Cuts | Malaysia | Mobility | News | Recruitment | Restructuring | Southeast Asia

20% of Malaysians have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest JobStreet survey.

Conducted in May with 5,000 participants, the survey also revealed that 35% have suffered a pay cut of more than 30% during the ‘Movement Control Order’ period, which started on March 18 and due to end on June 9.

More worryingly, more than two million jobs are forecasted to be lost as Malaysia continues to grapple with the economic impact of the pandemic.

“35% of Malaysians have experienced a salary reduction of more than 30% during the movement control order period,” said JobStreet country manager Gan Bock Herm in a statement.

He added that 54% of the survey’s respondents are actively searching and applying for jobs.

And despite the uncertainty, several sectors in Malaysia are still actively looking for employees such as computer and information technology, manufacturing and production, banking and financial services, retail and merchandise, as well as healthcare and medicine.

“There are more job searches in Malaysia today, with over 74 million searches on Google in March, an increase by 13% before Covid-19 struck and 16% more than compared to the same period last year.

“In addition to the over five million searches on Google for career advice, JobStreet ended up being directly searched for when searching for a jobsite platform 80% of the time,” Gan added.