Does Income Shock During Covid-19 Make Any Difference on Consumption among Malaysian Household

Abstract

This study aims to explore the difference of income shock on consumption among the Malaysian household during the Covid-19. The study conducts online survey and the finding reveals that this cohort are facing the greatest challenges of unemployment risk such as their job opportunities will be severely curtailed by the contraction of the job market, having income shock to their comparatively lower incomes, hence struggle to finance their expenses as the consumption increases. Nevertheless, our descriptive analysis basically shows that the income shock is merely temporary and significantly make difference on the consumption for the affected Malaysian household. The research also concludes that MCO resulted in unaffected income for most of the respondents, which could be said that MCO does not have a significant effect on the financial situation and financial burden for the majority of Malaysian. The findings can help the policymakers to formulate the suitable formulation.