COVID-19 fallout: youth and risk in Southeast Asia

The pandemic has hit students all over the world hard. Over the last two years, they have had to cope with severe uncertainty about how they would study and whether they would gain the critical qualifications which they have been working towards for years. Campus closures have extended well beyond national lockdowns in many countries, limiting students’ access to some of the most fulfilling aspects of student life – building friendships, discovering independence, drawing inspiration from their surroundings. And they face a far bleaker economic landscape as they take the step into working life.

In the context of these growing challenges for young people, the LRF Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) partnered with NUS’ Office of Risk Management and Compliance to understand better how students in Singapore and south-east Asia viewed risks to themselves, their countries and the world. We conducted a survey and a series of focus group discussions with undergraduates in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam in March to August 2021. In all, more than 2,700 undergraduates across the five ASEAN countries shared their views via online surveys and focus group discussions.

Epidemics as the top worry

We asked students to rate a range of risks based on how worried it made them feel. Not surprisingly, epidemics was the top worry in four of the five countries, despite the fact that the COVID-19 infection and death rates were comparatively low in South-East Asia. Small group discussions with students revealed many facets to their anxiety. Some people talked about being “afraid of dying” from COVID-19, although global data from the first year of the pandemic pointed to no significant increase in mortality rates among those under 25.¹ They also worried about parents and other family members falling sick, needing care and not being able to work. For themselves, they worried about not being able to keep up with their studies or perform well in exams if they caught COVID-19.

Mental health impact

Almost all participants mentioned the mental health impacts of the pandemic and governments’ responses to it. They talked openly about high levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, low motivation, anger and boredom. Although many were taking steps to try to improve their own mental health, the survey results revealed there was a wide gap between how serious the impact of mental health and how effective they thought actions were to address this risk. Our participants recognised several possible sources of support were available, including professional support but this was sometimes seen as being inadequate. For instance, professionals who were not able to diagnose and treat the problem, parents who did not understand their child’s problems and a society which does not take mental health seriously. While they tried to provide support to friends, they also felt that it was difficult to help effectively.

The mental health challenges we heard about from students in Asia are part of a global phenomenon. A recent study found that there have been 53 million additional cases of major depression globally due to the pandemic and the increase in depression and anxiety has been higher for young adults than older age groups.² Young people think of themselves as resilient and are taking action to help themselves and each other through this period. However, the long-term societal impacts of mental health deterioration of youth is an issue that deserves greater attention from decision-makers.³

Students frequently mentioned the economic impacts of the pandemic too, they had fewer opportunities to take on part-time work or internships to cover the costs of studies. For some, money has become such an issue that it crowds out everything else.

Career Prospects

In line with previous cohorts of undergraduates, our respondents were concerned about getting a good job and having enough money to buy the things they want. When we asked which one risk was of most concern to our respondents, these risks came out in the top three for men and women. But in contrast with mental health problems, though, students felt they could control the risk through their own actions. They talked about taking on internships, selecting specific courses and studying hard for exams in order to boost their employability.

Singapore students’ top risk of concern

What was perhaps not so evident to this generation of undergraduates is just how much more difficult it will be to manage employment risks as a result of COVID-19 and the economic fallout of the pandemic exacerbated by geopolitical tension. In only one country, Thailand, did students express a high level of worry about economic recession. In Singapore, we saw that final-year students and those nearer graduation were less worried about getting a good job, even though youth unemployment stood at 10.6% in 2020, more than twice the overall employment rate.

Employment uncertainty

The impact of the pandemic on labour markets in other parts of South-east Asia has been devastating, even before factoring the global shocks that have followed. In 2020, unemployment rates surged alongside reductions in working hours and wages. People aged 15 to 24 accounted for up to 45% of job losses during the pandemic in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, although they make up less than 15% of the workforce (ADB 2021, A Crisis Like No Other—COVID-19 and Labor Markets in Southeast Asia). They surged again in 2021 as the delta variant swept through the region and set off another round of lockdowns.

In part, this is due to the concentration of young employees in hard-hit service sectors like food and beverage and accommodation, and retail, but young people were also more likely to lose their jobs than adult workers in the same sector. The situation is even tougher for those with no experience seeking to enter the labour market for the first time. Even before the pandemic, unemployment was a youth problem in South-east Asia – youth are three times more likely to be unemployed than the workforce as a whole.

Unemployment in Southeast Asia (2021)

While the young people we talked to saw getting a job as both their own responsibility and something within their control, their anxiety is part of a bigger picture of youth unemployment as a societal risk which needs to be addressed actively through public policy. Universities and other institutes of higher education also have a key role to play in providing their students with a clear, objective picture of the employment risk landscape and developing a range of educational pathways to help reduce risks.

¹UN United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, 2021

²Santomauro, Damian F., et al. “Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” The Lancet 398.10312 (2021): 1700-1712.

³World Economic Forum 2021 Youth Recovery Plan Report https://www.weforum.org/reports/youth-recovery-plan