Survey Shows S’poreans Are More Worried About Their Jobs Than to Contracting COVID-19 Compared to Other SEA Countries

2020-10-24 , 5:30 pm

COVID-19 has had an undeniable change in our lives.

The number one definitely being having to live with the fear of this deadly virus.

Others include masks being mandatory, social distancing measures and the cancellation of every overseas trip I planned for.

And we haven’t even mentioned the number of people who have lost or might lose their jobs.

The Greater Worry

But compared to the rest of South-East Asia, which are Singaporeans more concerned about? Their job security or contracting the virus?

Well, according to a study, most fear the former.

Statistics released on 23 October show that people in Singapore are more worried about their job security compared to other countries in SEA.

More specifically, compared to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

This came from a poll conducted by Ipsos between 18 to 22 September.

Among the six countries in SEA, Ipsos picked 500 people from each. All of them were 18 years old and above.

From this, it’s shown that 73% of the chosen Singapore residents were worried about contracting the virus.

And for once, we aren’t the most kiasu ones.

This pales in comparison when looking at Vietnam and Malaysia, who were at 93%.

The Philippines was the highest in this category, at 95%.

Interestingly, however, Malaysia ranked 4th overall worldwide when it came to coronavirus concerns.

The data was slightly different when it came to economic recovery in the next six months.

Around 75% of the chosen Indonesian residents felt that the economy would bounce back stronger.

Other countries were way less positive with, Vietnam and the Philippines ranked at 51% and 50% respectively.

Singapore didn’t even hit the halfway mark for this, with only 27% feeling the economy would be better.

However, what Singaporeans felt should be the focus in the coming months were ‘protecting jobs’.

32% of people felt this way, higher than the rest of the SEA countries.

A senior client officer from Ipsos said that Singaporeans feel that the government could provide more aid with job security.

56% said they are “less confident” about job security for themselves and people they knew compared to three months earlier.

The rest of the surveyed countries ranked at an average of 49%.

Industries such as ones related to nightlife can’t reopen, though steps have been made to aid such businesses.

However, Singapore residents were also happy with how COVID-19 was contained.

Aside from some recent ones, cases are generally low and most are imported.

We even have less than 100 active cases as of 24 October.

Hopefully, the economy continues to improve as we combat the virus. But please don’t close down more food chains.