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The American Journal of  Economics and Business Innovation (AJEBI) is a blind peer-reviewed international journal 
publishing article that emphasizes research, development, and application within the fields of  business, economics, 
finance, marketing, management, business analytics, etc. The AJBEI reviews papers within approximately one month 
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Frequency: Three issues per year 
Area of  publication: Business, economics, finance, marketing, management, business analytics, start-ups, business 
and financial innovations and technologies.

Editorial Team
Professor Dr. Constance Leyland
Dean of  Business & Accounting, American National University, USA
Professor Dr. A. K. M. Ahasanul Haque
Faculty of  Economics and Management Sciences (KENMS)
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia
Dr. Gus Del Rivero
Lecturer, California State University, Long Beach and Monterey Bay, USA
Dr. Cansu TOR KADIOĞLU
Associate Professor, Faculty of  Applied Sciences
International Trade and Logistics Department, Tarsus University, Turkey
Dr. Lauren VanTalia
Graduate  Programs Faculty, Southern States University, San Diego, USA
Dr. Hafizah Hammad Ahmad Khan
Faculty of  Business & Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Dr. Razali Haron
Associate Professor, IIUM Institute of  Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF)
 International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia
Dr. Sejuti Mondal
Texas State University, USA
Dr. Nida Jafri
Consultant, Green Empowerment, Portland, USA
Dr. Marhanum Che Mohd Salleh
Associate Professor, Faculty of  Economics and Management Sciences (KENMS)
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Malaysia
Professor Dr. Wael Al-aghbari
University President, International University of  Technology Twintech - IUTT, Yemen
Dr. Abdullah Sarwar
Senior Lecturer, Department of  Business Studies
Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
Dr. Md Aftab Anwar
Associate Professor, Department of  Business Studies
State University of  Bangladesh
Dr. Sofia Binte Ehsan
Department of  Environmental Science
University Kebangsaan Malaysia

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American Journal of  Economics and 
Business Innovation (AJEBI)

Socio-economic Impact of  Covid-19 on Marginalized Youth in Malaysia
Zainatul Shuhaida Abd Rahman1, Sardar Md Humayun Kabir2* and Mohamad Saleeh Bin Rahamad3

Volume 1 Issue 1, Year 2022
ISSN: 2831-5588 (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajebi.v1i1.165
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INTRODUCTION
The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 has grown into 
a socio-economic crisis with countable and uncountable 
effects. Rising adverse effects on jobs, wages and 
livelihoods, supply chain and manufacturing disruptions, 
less consumption, insecurity and struggles, particularly 
among the most vulnerable, are slowing the economy 
(Lim, 2020). Maintaining social distancing prohibits 
individuals from working in close proximity to each other. 
Three forms of  operations are automatically affected 
(McKibbin and Fernando, 2020): high-density collective 
output, which is an aspect of  many manufacturing 
factories where workers need to work closely together; 
high-density collective consumption, which is an aspect 
of  many facilities, such as entertainment (sports , 
music, and cinema), restaurants, and transport, where 
customers need to visit; and immediate development 
and consumption involving vendors reaching customers, 
which is a component of  personal care, health care, 
shopping and household management. The pandemic 
made most of  the individuals turn to streaming movies 
from going to the cinema; from meeting people to 
using more data and speech; businesses are switching 
from selling what is not needed (cars) to what is needed 
(medical equipment); people are moving from demand-
driven jobs or social distance restrictions, such as face-to-
face retail, to those that are not, such as electronic retail. 
There are several studies analysed the impacts of  Covid-19 
most of  which concentrate on the health risk and 
environmental effects. Very few studies have interpreted 
information on social and economic impacts caused 
by the pandemic in Malaysian context. It is difficult to 
forecast the effect and extent of  the social and economic 
crisis on individuals as a consequence of  the pandemic, 
as many uncertainties surround the extent of  the crisis, 
i.e. “lockdowns”, “quarantine”, “social distancing”, the 

Article Information ABSTRACT

Received: February 25, 2022

Accepted: March 06 , 2022

Published: March 09, 2022

The impacts of  Covid-19 on society and economy are now a global concern. With the 
continuous growth of  global pandemic caused by Covid-19 infectious disease, limitations 
on daily living and reduced business operations have squeezed the society and the economy. 
Although scientists are busy with coronavirus vaccine studies, sociologists and economists 
are taking policy measures to alleviate the crisis. This paper aims to focus on the social and 
economic impacts of  Covid-19 in Malaysia. The study was conducted through interviews 
using a semi-structured questionnaire among marginalized youths. Using snowball sampling 
technique from 36 participants, it was found that 69% youths confirmed strengthening their 
relationships with family members, 25% youths are having psychological discomfort, 72% 
youths acknowledged reduced income due to the pandemic and 26% lost their job because 
of  the pandemic. The findings are expected to help the researchers and policymakers to 
strategize their future actions towards a better Malaysia. 

Keywords
Social; Economic, Impacts of  
Covid-19, Marginalized Youth, 
Malaysia

length of  “stay-at-home” orders, as well as the industries 
affected and the societies reacted during the crisis. 
Therefore, the objective of  this study is to explore the 
social and economic impacts of  Covid-19 in Malaysia.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Covid-19 in Malaysia
COVID-19 is a respiratory virus that has become a global 
pandemic on March 11, 2020 according to the World 
Health Organization (WHO, 2020). This new type of  
virus that affects respiratory organs in human bodies, was 
first reported in Wuhan province of  China. It has not only 
impacted countries in the East Asia and Pacific region 
but has increasingly spread to all countries and territories 
across the world. It has spread quickly in almost all parts 
of  the world because of  high transmissibility, zero herd 
immunity and high population mobility. In Malaysia, from 
3 January 2020 to 5:42pm CET, 23 February 2022, there 
have been 3,273,958 confirmed cases of  COVID-19 with 
32,433 deaths, reported to WHO. As of  23rd February 
2022, there were more than 31,000 confirmed cases daily 
(figure 1) in Malaysia as stated by the Malaysian Ministry 
of  Health (MOH, 2022). Figure 2 represents the overall 
dashboard of  Covid-19 in Malaysia.
Marginalized Youth
Youths are an energetic segment of  every nation and they 
are similarly important for continuous growth. Given the 
long history of  youth growth in Malaysia, which seems 
to be at risk due to the pandemic, it is clear that the path 
forward is based on a far more optimistic transition 
agenda. This poses enormous potential as well as dire 
challenges. Approximately, 73% of  Malaysian households 
are Bumiputera and are in the multi-dimensional group 
of  low-income backgrounds; uneducated, unemployed 
and have experienced a social breakdown (Kasim et 
al., 2014). They are having only Malaysia Certificate of  

1 College of  Creative Arts, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
2 Department of  Business Administration, International Islamic University Malaysia
3 Department of  Media and Communication Studies, Universiti Malaya
* Corresponding author’s e-mail: kabir.sardar@live.iium.edu.my

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Am. J. Econ. Bus. Innov. 1(1) 39-45, 2022

Education (SPM) for household heads; that is, 11 years of  
education or lower qualifications, and self-employment or 
employment as general staff. The bottom 40 percent of  
households are constrained in their economic mobility 
due to their lower degree of  expertise and, in many 
situations, their distant areas, and do not receive higher 
paid employment (Muzafar and Kunasekaran, 2020). 
This has left them feeling marginalised and victimised. 
Youth in these disadvantaged populations lack equitable 
opportunities to receive social and economic resources 
regardless of  all related causes for culturally, socially low-
income parents and insecure young people aged between 
15 and 25 years.
Marginality is described by Leonard (1984) as ‘being 
beyond the norm of  productive activity and/or 
reproductive social activity’ (p.180). The probability of  

marginalisation will either increase or decrease at some 
points of  one’s life cycle. For example, as they grow older, 
the potential marginalised status of  children and young 
people will decline, while as they become elderly, the 
potential marginalised status of  adults will rise (Salman et 
al., 2017). Regardless of  the reasons or mechanisms behind 
marginalisation, the traditional impacts of  marginalisation 
in terms of  social isolation are also common, weather it 
is social behaviours such as disability, race, nationality, etc. 
or social conditions such as closing of  the workplace and 
lack of  adequate housing, etc. In addition, based on the 
personal and social capital available to them, marginalised 
individuals respond differently to marginalisation (Burton 
& Kagan, 1996). Therefore, in this study, the social and 
economic impacts due to Covid-19 in Malaysia has been 
undertaken for marginalized youth community. 
Impact of  Covid-19 on Society and Economy
Covid-19 has impacted the life of  every human being on 
earth. Because of  the unprecedented nature since of  its 
inception in the late of  2019, it has devasted billions and 
took millions of  human lives till date. There is a wide 
saying in medical science as “prevention is better than 
cure”. But, Covid-19 being a new infectious and highly 
contagious disease, both prevention and cure for the 
disease are not globally approved yet. The new norm 
is on taking extensive safety measures such as regularly 
washing of  hands, maintaining social distancing among 
family, friends and peers, wearing of  face masks, and so 
on (Haleem et al., 2020; Jin et al., 2020; Campbell, 2020). 
Therefore, Covid-19 has impacted mostly the social lives 
beside other exponential impacts (Kabir et al., 2020). 
Some impacts are consequences of  another impacts. 
Impacts can be positive or negative depending on its 
development over time. Although, most of  the impacts 
of  covid-19 are negative, some impacts may lead to a 
more sustainable future by increasing flexibility of  the 
socio-ecological systems (Cheval et al., 2020). 
Government reform choices are often described as a 
straightforward compromise between saving lives and 

Figure 1: Covid-19 confirmed case graph in Malaysia
(Source: Ministry of  Health)

Figure 2: Covid-19 Dashboard in Malaysia
(Source: Ministry of  Health)

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Am. J. Econ. Bus. Innov. 1(1) 39-45, 2022

saving the economy. More stringent sanctions, according 
to this rationale, help curb the pandemic and minimize 
the overall death rate but brought more economic pain 
as more families hold spending, more companies go 
bankrupt, and more employees risk their jobs. Individual 
spending is also partially on behalf  of  other members 
of  the household; for example, a person may buy flights 
for himself  and his wife and children from his personal 
account. Many forms of  ingestion exist in areas with a 
high human population (e.g., restaurants, mass transit) 
or require close physical interaction (e.g., hair dressers, 
dentists) and lead to the transmission of  the disease. 
Most forms of  customer purchasing (e.g. retail shopping) 
require proximity and can often raise risks to shop 
assistants and other customers (Martin et al., 2020). Most 
jurisdictions also enacted regulations on social distancing 
that regulate some of  these economic practices. However, 
the severity of  these restrictions varies greatly across 
nations, and in reaction to recent research on COVID-19 
cases and mortality, many policymakers are debating day-
by-day whether to relax, retain, or tighten restrictions.
According to business sectors, a report comprising 
income loss schedule in the United States of  America 
was undertaken to model the shock of  the COVID-19 
crisis on households from economic impacts attributable 
to disease, shortages and loss of  activity due to social 
distancing orders. The analysis used 15 aggregated 
business sectors listed by the Bureau of  Economic 
Analysis (BEA) reported that construction, retail trade, 
travel, arts and entertainment are believed to be the 
hardest hit sectors (Leatherby and Gelles, 2020). During 
the stay-at-home order, which in the study was referred 
to as the crisis era, impacted people are believed to have 
a 100 percent loss of  labour income. The reduction of  
income for impacted people is expected to begin at the 
initial stages of  the crisis and to continue for the length 
of  the crisis. The affected people achieve full jobs at the 
outset of  the rehabilitation process and the marginal rate 
of  savings is estimated to be 10 percent of  consumption. 
This is an optimistic prediction, but due to the broad 
macroeconomic impact of  the coronavirus and the 
prospects for a slowdown, several workers who were laid 
off  after the depression would have trouble re-entering 
the market (Avalos, 2020). In comparison, household 
consumption is believed to be steady during the recession, 
where families share income revenue, state and federal 
aid and consumption replenishment savings. In fact, due 
to the delay in assistance, the crisis could have worsen 
savings exhaustion, especially for the marginalized youth 
community (Flanders et al., 2020). Key reviews of  labour 
force status in Malaysia as of  November 2021 stated by 
DOSM (Release Date : Monday 10, January 2022) are 
mentioned below.
• The number of  employed people increased for the 

fourth month in a row in November 2021, with a gain 
of  55.7 thousand people (0.4 percent) month over 
month, bringing the total to 15.61 million (October 
2021: 15.55 million persons). In November 2021, the 

employment-to-population ratio, which measures an 
economy’s capacity to produce jobs, increased by 0.2 
percentage points to 66.0 percent (October 2021: 
65.8 percent ).

• Employment in the Services sector continued to rise, 
mostly in wholesale and retail commerce, food and 
beverage services, and transportation and storage 
operations. Employment in the Manufacturing and 
Construction sectors followed a similar pattern, 
while employment in Agriculture and Mining and 
Quarrying stayed flat.

• During the month, the workers’ category, which 
accounted for 76.9% of  all employed people, 
increased by 0.2 percent (+27.1 thousand people), 
to a total of  12.0 million people (October 2021: 
11.97 million persons). Similarly, the own-account 
workers category, which includes mostly daily wage 
earners who work as small business operators such 
as retailers, hawkers, market and stall sellers, and 
smallholders, continued to rise by 0.8 percent (+20.1 
thousand people) in November to a new high of  2.63 
million people (October 2021: 2.61 million persons).

• The number of  jobless people fell below 700,000 
for the first time in November 2021, the lowest 
since April 2020, with a monthly reduction of  1.5 
percent (-10.6 thousand people) to 694.4 thousand 
unemployed people (October 2021: 705.0 thousand 
persons). The unemployment rate for the month was 
4.3 percent, unchanged from October 2021, as more 
people who were unemployed looked for work.

• In November 2021, the number of  people in the 
labour force increased by 45.1 thousand, or 0.3 
percent, to 16.30 million (October 2021: 16.26 
million persons). As a result, the labour force 
participation rate (LFPR) for the month increased to 
68.9%. (October 2021: 68.8 percent ).

• In November 2021, the number of  people working 
outside the home fell by 20.1 thousand people, or 
0.3 percent, to a new low of  7.34 million people 
(October 2021: 7.36 million persons). With 42.2 
percent, the category of  outside labour force due 
to schooling/training was the highest, followed by 
the category of  housework/family duties with 41.1 
percent.

• Since August 2021, Malaysia’s labour force situation 
has steadily improved, with most economic and social 
activities continuing to run smoothly in compliance 
with tight standard operating procedures. The 
continued operation of  such operations may result 
in additional job openings, providing more prospects 
for job searchers and, as a result, strengthening the 
labour market in the future months. The recent flood 
catastrophes that affected the country’s central and 
east coasts are expected to have a more localized 
effect and may not have a significant influence on 
the whole labour market. In addition, the existence 
of  a novel COVID-19 type of  Omicron might 
complicate the healing process.

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METHODS
The study consisted of  data obtained through targeted 
qualitative interviews using WhatsApp social media 
platform and a random selection of  phone calls. It was 
administered in Bahasa Malaysia and later translated to 
English. To meet the objectives of  the study, a semi-
structured open-ended questionnaire was used. The 
following questions are being asked during the interviews:
1. How do you see the positive side of  social impact 

due to Covid-19?
2. How do you see the negative side of  social impact 

due to Covid-19?
3. How do you see the positive side of  economic 

impact due to Covid-19?
4. How do you see the negative side of  economic 

impact due to Covid-19?
Using the snowball sampling procedure, the participants 
were randomly chosen as it was the most appropriate 
approach for this analysis. Compared to other sampling 
methods, snowball sampling solves many other limitations 
of  the sampling process, needs less preparation, and 
needs fewer workers. This is because, in addition to 
reducing sampling bias, it is easier to start interacting with 
a small population, especially when reaching unknown 
people (Taherdoost, 2016; Creswell and Creswell, 2017). 
The questionnaires were circulated to the contacts 
of  the researcher, as well as to those who fulfilled the 
requirements of  marginalised youth and Malaysian 
citizenship. Each participant was required to nominate 
another participant. There were 36 interviews conducted 
in three months of  time from May 2021 to July 2021. 
The data was scrutinized using NVivo 12 Professional 
software program which is widely used by researchers for 
analysing qualitative and mixed mode research. All data 
coded independently and unbiased by the author.

RESULTS
Table 1 represents the number of  respondents who have 
participated in the interviews.  The selected respondents 
are mainly youth from marginalised community of  
Malaysia, i.e. youths with parents whose incomes are 

below RM 2,000 and living in rural areas; and below RM 
3,500 for those living in urban areas. The ages of  youths 
are between 15 to 25.
The interviews verbatim have been transcribed and 
organized according to Bazeley and Jackson’s (2013) 
qualitative data analysis with Nvivo. Figure 3 and 4 
represents the word clouds generated during analysis for 
social and economic impact groups. 

Table 1: Distribution of  Respondents
Name of  States Number of  Participants

Perak 3
Johor 10
Kedah 4

Pulau Pinang 1
Kelantan 3

Negeri Sembilan 2
Pahang 3

Selangor 5
Sabah 2
Melaka 1

Terengganu 1
Kuala Lumpur 1

Total 36

Figure 3: Word cloud of  Social Impact

Figure 4: Word cloud of  Economic Impact

The word frequency count shows the highest words spoken 
in the interviews was “youth”, “time”, “social”, “friend”, 
“mental”, “group”, “marginalized”, “employment”, 
“money”, “work”, “affected’. The mapping among most 
used words in the interviews was built upon the codes 
found in word frequency count. The tree maps of  words 
for social and economic groups are presented in figure 5 
and 6. 

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Am. J. Econ. Bus. Innov. 1(1) 39-45, 2022

Then, the codes are recoded and categorised in six 
themes for each group respectively. These six themes are 
labelled and put on a hierarchy model (table 2) depending 
on number of  sources and number of  references from 
high to low.

DISCUSSION
This paper studied how marginalized youths respond in a 
pandemic coupled with job loss, mental dissatisfaction as 
negative side and being more productive, caring in family 
matters as positive side, where both are investigated 

Figure 5: Tree map of  words (Social Impact)

Figure 6: Tree map of  words (Economic Impact)

Table 2: Social and Economic Impact of  Covid-19
Social Economic

1. Family relationship 1. Unemployment 
2. Psychological stability 2. Salary structure
3. Online presence 3. Financial stability
4. Recreation 4. Job opportunity
5. Participation in social events 5. Online business
6. Educational barrier 6. Household consumption

with considerable volatility. 69% youths stated that their 
relationships with other family members became more 
interactive and better. Whereas 25% youths stated that 
they are having mental problems due to the movement 
control order. Overall, the negative side of  the impact 
has come up significantly. There has been substantial 
understanding among Malaysian marginalized youth 
community of  possible uncertainty in the future. It was 
found that there is a large income loss effects which is 
aligned with decision-making regarding basic needs. 
However, closing down sectors and regulating business 
activities with SOPs with social distancing measures 
decreases the occurrence of  the virus in society at large 
in the sense of  the pandemic. Malaysian households also 
bear a lot of  debt and have no savings (Muzafar and 
Kunasekaran, 2020); many households will easily lose 
access to basics like food or accommodation without 
a source of  income. The Malaysian government has 
produced a series of  stimulus packages in response to 
Covid-19. Stimulus packages to tackle the impact of  

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ongoing pandemic have been launched in many countries 
over the world. However, in the next few months, majority 
of  the respondents in the interview are still fearing of  
running out of  money.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic crisis started in 2020, 
the problem of  job-loss has been predicted in Malaysia 
in recent times. According to Bank Negara, which is the 
Central Bank of  Malaysia, in their 2019 Economic and 
Monetary Review released on April 3rd, 2020 projected 
that the unemployment rate would increase to 4%, 
significantly higher than the unemployment rate (3.7%) 
during the Great Recession of  2008-2009 (Flanders et 
al., 2020). Therefore, in 2020, the prevalence of  global 
pandemic crisis caused by Covid-19 has triggered the 
crisis moment once more. 
The findings of  this study supports the study conducted 
by the Department of  Statistics Malaysia (2020) to gain a 
better understanding on how the pandemic crisis affects 
the economy and social lives. Majority of  the respondents 
(72%) experienced income loss one way or around. These 
youths used to work day and night to meet the end’s need 
and this pandemic has deprived them from working due 
to closure of  many business sectors (i.e. Tourism). 26% 
youths acknowledged that they have lost their jobs due 
to the outbreak and now waiting for business sectors to 
reopen. Self-employed respondents are the most heavily 
impacted group, as they have minimal savings that can 
only last for less than one month. These youths are the 
most underprivileged group, the marginalized community. 

IMPLICATIONS
Globally, for every country, the society and economy 
are having very challenging days. When contemplating 
the influence of  the Covid-19 pandemic on Malaysian 
society and economy, there is a considerable gap. At this 
time, we have little knowledge of  the true effects of  the 
pandemic on heterogeneous people from all walks of  
life. If  Malaysian policymakers wish to further protect 
the country from budget crises after disbursement 
of  all the stimulus economic packages, they should be 
more strategic about their future actions.  Identifying the 
most economically affected groups of  the community 
and making public-private partnership programs more 
effectively can reduce the impact in the long run. Like 
social distancing breaking the infection chain, social 
awareness programs need to be in place for breaking the 
psychological dilemma. Enhancing emotional intelligence, 
spiritual intelligence for youths can result better mental 
stability (Gardner, 1999). The issue of  internet speed 
has been raised by some of  the respondents in the 
interview. So, there is no alternative to improve the ICT 
infrastructure in rural areas so that the adaptation of  
technology for marginalized youths in their daily lives can 
be smoother in crisis moment. 

LIMITATIONS AND SCOPE FOR FURTHER 
RESEARCH
This study has some limitations: the interviewees are not 

representative as the number of  respondents from each 
state are oddly distributed. The responses came during 
the MCO period, so the number of  Malaysians who 
have lost their jobs or have confronted reduced income 
after the MCO are not considered. In addition, the 
research has been done using qualitative content analysis 
which has issues with generalization. Therefore, the 
recommendations are only preliminary, so the outcomes 
can only be considered indicative. Future researchers who 
wish to study more on the socio-economic impacts of  
Covid-19 with marginalized youth community in Malaysia 
can consider the themes depicted in this study for further 
statistical analysis with larger sample size. Additionally, 
the demographic variables (i.e. gender, education level, 
cultural background) can be good moderators in assessing 
the impacts in a country like Malaysia where multi-cultural 
races exist.  

CONCLUSION
In Malaysia, this research is among the few studies that 
tells how marginalized youths effected by socially and 
economically due to Covid-19. Given different policy 
measures to the management of  the containment of  
Covid-19 in different nations, the Malaysian government 
has launched equally large measures to alleviate the 
financial loss to companies and households incurred by 
the crisis. In this paper, we have focused on discussing 
counterfactual scenarios to get a rough estimate on the 
positive and negative sides of  the impact due to Covid-19 
in Malaysian society and economy from marginalized 
youth community perspective. The pandemic has caused 
a global crisis, and, while Malaysia has controlled the 
infection effectively more than most of  the countries by 
imposing early MCOs, SOPs which eventually affected 
the social and economic lives of  most Malaysians. 
Because of  Covid-19, social distancing ultimately creates 
major socio-economic sacrifices. It threatens job loss and 
cause depression for the marginalized youths in Malaysia. 
Therefore, better mitigation plans need to be in place 
urgently for post-pandemic crisis management.  
Conflict of  Interest
There is no conflict of  interest as declared by the authors.
Ethical Approval
Ethical approval is not required.

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