Self-employed workers badly hit by restriction

PETALING JAYA: Self-employed workers have been hit hard by the movement control order (MCO), with almost half of them being out of work, according to a survey by the Department of Statistics.

And of the other half who still have their jobs, the majority of them have experienced a drop in income, with quite a number losing more than 90% of income.

The online survey “Effect of Covid-19 on the Economy and Individual” was conducted from March 23 to 30, and recorded responses from a total of 168,182 people aged 15 years and above.

Self-employed workers made up 11.7% or about 19,675 of the total respondents to the survey.

According to the survey, 46.6% of them lost their jobs.

Of those who were still working, almost 95% experienced a drop in income and of this, 35.5% had their incomes drop by more than 90%.

Employers who made up 2.9% of the survey respondents or about 4,877 people have also been hit badly, with 23.8% of them being out of work.

The survey found that 28.3% of employers experienced a drop of income of more than 90%.

The survey also found that 71.4% of self-employed workers had savings which could not last for more than one month, and that 81.9% of them were not ready if the MCO were to be extended further

Similarly, 71.3% of employers surveyed were not financially ready.

Agriculture was the most affected sector, making up 21.9% of those who lost their jobs, followed by the services sector at 15%.