Majority of self-employed Malaysians lack social security protection

Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, CEO of the Social Security Organisation (Socso), called the situation “dire”, and said these are people mostly from the B40 group, whose households earn less than RM4,850 (US$1,090) per month and might have other priorities to spend their money on.

“The situation is made worse by current economic conditions that are ruled by higher costs of living and rising inflation. For the B40 group, social security protection is not a luxury and not part of their long-term survival,” he told The Sun.

Under Malaysia’s Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017, self-employed individuals who are required to contribute to Socso are those employed in passenger transport, goods and food transport, agriculture, livestock, fisheries, construction, online business, arts and household services, said Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Awang Hashim.

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Only 15.5% or 369,107 self-employed people in Malaysia are contributing to the Self-Employment Social Security Scheme (SESSS), a small number considering there are 2.38 million self-employed workers in the country, the minister said. “Social security protection will ensure that the contributors and their families receive some assistance, either monetary or otherwise, to help them get by after an accident or death.”