KUALA LUMPUR – The coronavirus outbreak which has crippled most of Malaysia’s economy has hit those without a fixed salary the hardest, according to the Statistics Department.

A survey carried out during the ongoing nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) showed that nearly half of self-employed workers and a quarter of employers have gone without any income.

Even among the 53.4 per cent of self-employed Malaysians who said they still had jobs, 94.8 per cent suffered income losses, with more than a third of them experiencing a cut of over 90 per cent.

Of the 76.2 per cent of employers who continued to bring in revenue, 86.1 per cent said their takings were affected, with nearly three in 10 experiencing a drop of over 90 per cent.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin also noted that the first round of the special survey on the “Effects of Covid-19 on Economy and Individuals” – which polled 168,182 respondents from March 23 to 31 – saw the agriculture and services sectors record the highest levels of job losses at 21.9 and 15 per cent respectively.

“The findings of this survey will assist the Malaysian government and people in addressing the effects of Covid-19 on the economy and employment,” he said in a statement when releasing the survey report on Thursday (April 9).

However, he cautioned that the assessments were based purely on survey responses and not “official statistics” that can be interpreted as representative of Malaysia’s demographics.

Malaysia imposed the MCO on March 18 after the number of coronavirus infections nearly tripled to 673 in the three days before borders were closed and all non-essential economic activities were put into stasis.

There are 4,119 confirmed cases and 65 deaths in Malaysia as of Wednesday.

The initial two-week period was doubled and the government will decide only on Friday at the earliest whether to push the April 14 deadline further back.

The Straits Times understands that an extension of some restrictions is imminent, although the government is seeking ways to increase the level of economic activity, having already approved thousands of applications from manufacturers to continue operations during the MCO.

Data made available to ST indicated that job losses have risen to about 60 per cent higher in the past two months as compared to the same period in 2019.

According to the survey, some 71.4 per cent of self-employed respondents will be in dire straits if the MCO is extended, as they have enough savings to last only a month.

Nearly half of employers are in the same position.

The survey also revealed that nearly all private sector employees were still at work, especially those attached to government-linked companies (GLC) and multinationals (MNC), although some have had to endure pay cuts or unpaid leave.

Only 31.2 and 38.9 per cent of MNC and GLC employees respectively said their savings will run out in a month, while the figure was higher at 58 per cent for employees in the rest of the private sector.

Civil servants have not faced retrenchments.

The majority of respondents also said they were not financially prepared for a further extension of the MCO.

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