Coronavirus pandemic puts millions of middle class Southeast Asians at risk of poverty
- Southeast Asia has boomed in recent years but the ADB sees it second to the Indian subcontinent in charting the number of new poor this year
- The region’s top five economies spent billions in income support but informal workers – 76 per cent of those employed – often fall through the cracks
The job losses are pausing the outsize boom Southeast Asia has experienced in recent years, with economies possibly taking years to fully recover.
Instead, she has lost contracts she had won as a graphics designer, leading her to turn to selling eggs and hummus online. She has also been living in a friend’s unused condominium unit to keep living expenses low.
“I didn’t expect it at all,” Piñon said of the work she has lost. “I have to thank God that he gave me enough savings for now. Let’s just hope it lasts.”
While incomes have plunged worldwide, the pandemic’s effects are especially severe in emerging parts of Southeast Asia, where a wave of job losses and weak social safety nets mean millions are at risk of losing their rung on the social mobility ladder.