Malaysia's Labour Market Outlook in the Time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 22 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with almost 930 000 deaths. Many countries implemented varying degrees of restrictions on population movement, which amount to lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus. The lockdown has come at a high cost on labour markets worldwide – freezing economic activities, disrupting the supply chain and upending businesses, which in turn negatively affected jobs and incomes. Many countries responded by strengthening unemployment benefits and introducing jobs retention scheme to support businesses and protect employees. In Malaysia, a series of lockdown was imposed at one time or another to contain the spread of the COVID-19 infections. The lockdown is a labour market knock-out that put employment activities in the country almost at the edge. In response, the Government has made available several economic stimulus measures as early as February 2020 to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and intend to "preserve people's welfare, support businesses and strengthen the economy".

EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAM MALAYSIA) with the cooperation of the Institute of Labour Market Information and Analysis (ILMIA), Department of Statistics Malaysia will host an online webinar entitled 'Malaysia's Labour Market Outlook in the Time of COVID-19.' Puan Betty Binti Hasan, Senior Director of ILMIA, will shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the labour market and how severe the effect is on the employers and employees. She will also assess the labour market interventions introduced by the Government to counter the socio-economic impacts of this public health crisis.