Menteri Besar Johor, Datuk Hasni Mohammad has revealed that the border between Singapore and the state needs to be opened soon as the state government will be struggling to find jobs for 100,000 Malaysians who may be jobless due to the border closure.
He elaborated, as reported by The Straits Times, that the unemployment rate in Johor is already at a record high of 18% which translates to 35,000 individuals being jobless. He said,
“The time has come for the federal government to find a way to balance the people’s lives and their livelihoods, as we do not want the scale to tip only towards lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Previously there were about 250,000 people commuting daily to Singapore but with the border closure, Johor’s economy has suffered from it. Since March, the majority of the businesses in Johor have suffered from some seeing about 70% decline in sales without the visitors from Singapore.
As much as we want to have the borders be opened with guidelines so that the economy in the area can slowly recover again, major planning is needed to ensure the pandemic risk is kept at a minimum level.
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