Page 59 - AEI Insights Vol. 7 2021

AEI-Insights: An International Journal of Asia-Europe Relations
ISSN: 2289-800X, Vol. 7, Issue 1, January 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37353/aei-insights.vol7.issue1.5

COVID-19 PANDEMIC’S IMPACT ON THE LABOUR MARKET IN
ASEAN COUNTRIES

Li Jingyi , Beatrice Lim , Khairul Hanim Pazim and Fumitaka Furuoka
b
b
a
a*
a Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya
Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah
b

* Corresponding author: 17198907@siswa.um.edu.my

Abstract
This paper aims to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market in ten
ASEAN countries, namely Brunei, Lao PDR Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. A flu virus first detected in China later affected
neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. Although the pandemic has varying implications and
at varying levels, it has a negative impact on the ASEAN economies. The labour market is
affected as economic activities came to a halt when ASEAN governments-imposed lockdowns
or restricted movement. Job losses continue to escalate amid the pandemic, vulnerable workers
such as those working in informal sectors, self-employed workers, gig workers, migrant
workers, and micro, small and medium enterprises are facing a tough labour market and also
at risk of losing livelihood due to lockdown. Post-COVID-19, ASEAN region sees the need
for collective action to build the economy, leveraging on technology and digital trade. The
pandemic may reshape ASEAN’s digital landscape in the labour market especially on the way
work is done in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19, labour market, pandemic, ASEAN

Introduction

On 31 December 2019, a novel coronavirus in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was reported to
the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office (WHO, 2020). The virus has
quickly become a far greater global health crisis than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) of 2003 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus
(MERS-CoV) of 2012(Li, Liu, Yu, Tang, & Tang, 2020). On 30 January 2020, the WHO stated
the new virus as a public health emergency (Zhang & Shaw, 2020). The International
Committee for the Taxonomy of Virus (ICTV) on 11 February 2020 described the new virus
as a serious acute coronaviral syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) currently referred to as "COVID-19"
by the WHO (Sharma, Tiwari, Deb, & Marty, 2020). Coronavirus disease has been declared a
global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. (Li et al., 2020).

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