RESILIENCY OF URBAN INFORMAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN KUCHING CITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v20i24.1201Keywords:
Informal Economy, Resilience, Sustainable Development, Covid-19 PandemicAbstract
The unprecedented outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic since the year 2020 has witnessed an economic downturn which has caused negative impacts towards the global economy. The impacts of this crisis have greatly affected the informal economy, in which this vulnerable sector is not safeguarded by any regulations or policies during this difficult time. Informal sectors are no exception to restrictions of business operations imposed by the Malaysian Government during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims to explore the approaches and challenges faced by the operators of informal economic activities in Kuching city, Sarawak, towards sustaining their businesses. The findings have shown that the informal business operators in Kuching city have a moderate resilience index based on the data collected on both threats and resilience strategies. The study found that three major threats are highly associated with these informal businesses, namely disruption of access to goods and products, Covid-19 pandemic and disruption of internet and telecommunication services. Additionally, the business operators have adopted few strategies towards ensuring the resiliency of their businesses, namely the use of E-commerce and conducting their businesses in flexible and accessible locations. Immediate responses, strategies and policy interventions are necessary towards rectifying the current challenges faced by these operators as well as providing future opportunities for the informal sector.
Downloads
References
Açikgöz, Ö., & Günay, A. (2020). The early impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global and Turkish economy. Turkish journal of medical sciences, 50(SI-1), 520-526. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3906/sag-2004-6
Bakhtiari, S., & Sajjadieh, F. (2018). Theoretical and empirical analysis of economic resilience index. Iranian Journal of Economic Studies, 7(1), 41-53.
Blades, D., Ferreira, F. H., & Lugo, M. A. (2011). The informal economy in developing countries: An introduction. Review of Income and Wealth, 57, S1-S7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4991.2011.00457.x
Briguglio, L. (2014). A vulnerability and resilience framework for small states. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14217/9781848599185-5-en
Briguglio, L., Cordina, G., Farrugia, N., & Vella, S. (2006). Conceptualizing and measuring economic resilience. Building the economic resilience of small states, Malta: Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta and London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 265-288. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22459/PIRIG.11.2005.03
Buheji, M. (2020). Sharing economy and communities attitudes after covid-19 pandemicreview of possible socio-economic opportunities. American Journal of Economics, 10(6), 395-406. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5923/j.economics.20201006.09
Drobniak, A. (2012). The urban resilience–economic perspective. Journal of Economics and Management, 10, 5-20.
Ghasemi, H., & Arabmazar, A. (2020). Resilience Index of Budgeting System of Iran’s Economy. Quarterly Journal of Quantitative Economics, 17(2), 173-199.
Ghosh, A., Nundy, S., & Mallick, T. K. (2020). How India is dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. Sensors International, 1, 100021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2020.100021
Handoyo, E., & Wijayanti, T. (2021). THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE WELFARE OF STREET VENDORS IN INDONESIA. PLANNING MALAYSIA, 19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v19i18.1048
Khan, M., & Idid, S. Z. A. (2016). FROM TRADE ROUTES TO STREETS CULTURES AN OVERVIEW OF THE SIGNIFICANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF DOI: https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v14i4.146
SOUTHEAST ASIAN TRADITIONAL STREETS. PLANNING MALAYSIA (4).
Kijowsjki, F., Moore, S., Iqbal, S., Cronin, J., Milewski, L., Woods, N., & O'Reilly, S. (2021). Financial resilience among doctors in training and the COVID-19 pandemic. Irish Medical Journal, 114(6), 1-9.
Marinescu, A. (2016). Regional Resilience in Romania. Knowledge Horizons. Economics, 8(1), 111.
Muñoz, P., & Cohen, B. (2016). The making of the urban entrepreneur. California Management Review, 59(1), 71-91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125616683953
Naik, A. K. (2009). Informal sector and informal workers in India. Paper presented at the Special IARIW-SAIM Conference on ‘Measuring the Informal Economy in Developing Countries’ September.
Natarajan, P., Sivasankaran, S. K., & Balasubramanian, V. (2020). Identification of contributing factors in vehicle pedestrian crashes in Chennai using multiple correspondence analysis. Transportation research procedia, 48, 3486-3495. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.104
Raj, M., Sundararajan, A., & You, C. (2020). COVID-19 and digital resilience: Evidence from Uber Eats. arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.07204. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3625638
Rawal, V., Kumar, M., Verma, A., & Pais, J. (2020). COVID-19 lockdown: Impact on agriculture and rural economy. Society for Social and Economic Research.
Shadbolt, N. M. (2016). Resilience, risk and entrepreneurship.
Simmie, J., & Martin, R. (2010). The economic resilience of regions: towards an evolutionary approach. Cambridge journal of regions, economy and society, 3(1), 27-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsp029
Spangenberg, J. H. (2005). Economic sustainability of the economy: concepts and indicators. International journal of sustainable development, 8(1-2), 47-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSD.2005.007374
Williams, C. C., & Kayaoglu, A. (2020). COVID-19 and undeclared work: Impacts and policy responses in Europe. The Service Industries Journal, 40(13-14), 914-931. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2020.1757073
Zaman, G., & Vasile, V. (2014). Conceptual framework of economic resilience and vulnerability at national and regional levels. Romanian Journal of Economics, 39(2), 48.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Nor Amaleena Mazlan, Rosilawati Zainol, Yong Adilah Shamsul Harumain
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright & Creative Commons Licence
eISSN: 0128-0945 © Year. The Authors. Published for Malaysia Institute of Planners. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
The authors hold the copyright without restrictions and also retain publishing rights without restrictions.