Malaysian youths are crossing their fingers in hopes that 2021 will be better

MALAYSIAN youths are highly concerned regarding the management of the country’s economy and social issues during the pandemic, while also staying warily optimistic of the nation’s longer-term recovery, showed REDHILL’s Asean Youth Survey 2020.

Government and economy

According to the survey, almost 40% of Malaysian youths are optimistic that the country’s economy will recover in 2021 while 33% believe it will remain the same and 27% believe it will get worse before it gets better.

Source: REDHILL Asean Youth Survey 2020

 

The survey also highlighted that while only 16% of the respondents are worried about the national economy, 27% believe that the Government is managing it well during the pandemic – a rate lower than Indonesia, where 34% are happy with their government’s economic response measures.

Education and life choices

Nearly 90% of Malaysian respondents believe that their education system should be making greater use of technology, particularly as many youths had to adapt to social distancing and remote learning this year.

This correlates with 98% of all ASEAN respondents of the survey who share the same view.

The survey also highlighted that despite the international movement limitations experienced throughout 2020 and ongoing COVID-19 spreads in other countries, 80% of Malaysian youths aged 18-24 would still like to pursue their higher education overseas.

 

Meanwhile, since remote working has been a defining theme of the pandemic, 12% of the respondents believe they were able to comfortably balance their professional and personal lives, while 43% said they too achieved balance but only to some degree.

Source: REDHILL Asean Youth Survey 2020

 

In comparison, 33% were ambivalent on whether they could achieve that balance, while 12% of others reported that they could not do so. – Jan 23, 2021

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