COVID-19 has been sweeping the world swiftly across this year and expectedly brought economic upheaval on local businesses in Sarawak and Sabah. Throughout 2020, we have witnessed vast social changes alongside the changing magnitude of the crisis; citizens were urged to stay at home, businesses were forced to shut down temporarily for a few months before resuming their operation with a new set of guidelines that they need to adhere to.
SarawakJobs.com & SabahJobs.com have conducted brief surveys on the local East Malaysia companies, employees and current jobseekers to have insights on the impacts brought into the local workforce due to the global pandemic.
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EAST MALAYSIA WORKFORCE
Question: Share with us the changes at work that you’ve faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic
As the crisis keeps evolving, it delivers harsh impacts on the local workforce in both Sarawak and Sabah.
In the latest SarawakJobs’ and SabahJobs’ social media surveys conducted in October 2020 with 1433 local workforce participants, 59% of the local workforce experienced changes brought about by COVID-19, while 35% of the local workforce are already unemployed even before the pandemic hits, and leaving 6% of the local workforce to remain unaffected of the pandemic.
CHANGES BROUGHT BY COVID-19 TO EAST MALAYSIA WORKFORCE
Question: Share with us the changes at work that you’ve faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic
Among those who continue to work, a notable amount of employees experienced an unfortunate effect on the progression of their role, where 36% underwent retrenchment while 34% experienced a negative impact on their remunerations: reduced salary or salary freeze, reduced or eliminated bonus or suspended or no salary increment. Meanwhile, 11% were urged to take voluntary unpaid leaves due to the pandemic.
Amid economic slowdown with the pandemic in its mid-course and still no clear sight on when its profound impacts will end, the demand of local job market is inevitably impacted. We notice a decrease in 14% demand of job openings in 2020 versus 2019 (Q2 to Q3), while Q3 of 2020 shows 35% improvement from Q2 of 2020, the recruitment activities for East Malaysia region shows some positivity despite the overall reduced in job demand for now. In the current tough times, majority companies were urged to reduce the company spending to keep the business going on; which were reflected by the reduction of the employees’ remunerations and the lower salaries being offered to new employees
As part of the No. 1 job site in Borneo, SarawakJobs.com and SabahJobs.com are committed to assist both employers and job seekers to cope and rise during this unprecedented crisis. We place greater efforts to promote job opportunities and enhance quality candidates while focusing on our commitments to address the needs of our users and HR professionals alike to attract and secure the right hire even in the current tough period.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To download a full copy of ‘COVID-19 Business Confidence Report 2020’, please visit www.SabahJobs.com. All reports are made available on https://www.sabahjobs.com/salary-survey/2019-2020/ or https://www.sabahjobs.com/blog/.
