PETALING JAYA: Rising wages and falling poverty have not insulated many Klang Valley households from financial strain, with unpredictable food, transport and utility costs leaving some families just one month away from crisis, a new study has found.
The Urban Squeeze: Raising the Floor for Economic Security and Mobility in Malaysia, jointly conducted by the South-East Asian Futures Initiative Centre (SEAFIC) and the MySDG Centre for Social Inclusion (MySDG-CSI), found that unpredictable expenses could weigh as heavily on households as high costs.
The study was based on a closed-door focus group involving 15 B40 and M40 residents, including fresh graduates, heads of households, working single mothers, gig workers and senior citizens.
Participants said rent and loan repayments could be planned for, but fluctuating transport, utility and food bills were harder to manage.
Where public transport was less reliable, some workers had to bear the additional cost of running a vehicle, while some younger workers turned to buy-now-pay-later schemes to manage cash flow.
The study also highlighted a gap between qualifications and employment. Fresh graduates reported earning between RM2,000 and RM2,500, often in jobs outside their fields, while professional certifications costing between RM5,000 and RM20,000 were considered out of reach by some.
Many also relied on gig work, where fluctuating daily earnings could make it harder to demonstrate a stable income when applying for a home loan, the study found.
On food, participants said the issue was not simply having enough to eat, but being able to afford nutritious food. Some said staples such as sardines and mackerel had become harder to afford, while some drivers reported going long periods without meals during their shifts.
The report said existing assistance such as Sara and Jualan Rahmah provided a strong foundation, but suggested that food aid could be further designed to support nutrition, including access to fresh produce and wet-market purchases.
SEAFIC chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the next challenge was ensuring families could plan confidently for the month ahead rather than merely cope with immediate pressures.
“People are not asking for handouts. They are asking for systems that can support the realities of their daily lives, a bank that can recognise a gig worker’s income, assistance that enables them to buy fresh produce, and public transport they can depend on,” he said.
The study proposed four areas for further policy consideration: credit-scoring rules that recognise gig and flexible earnings; more affordable routes to professional certification; nutrition-focused food assistance; and better coordination between housing and transport planning so that affordable homes are built near reliable public transport.
It also recommended that policies be tested with the communities they affect before implementation.
The report noted that the study was a qualitative diagnostic rather than a population-wide survey, and was intended to complement quantitative indicators by identifying pressures and trade-offs that may not be reflected in national averages.
The focus group was co-convened in August by SEAFIC and MySDG-CSI, the policy think tank of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia for Sustainable Development Goals.
