One month into the PPKM and Aid for Workers has not been disbursed
Entering into one month of the implementation of restrictions on community activities or PPKM, assistance for affected workers, in the form of wage subsidies or Pre-Employment Cards, has not been disbursed.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – (5/8/2021) The government targeted that assistance for workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic can be disbursed by this week. It is hoped that the distribution of social assistance will be faster and more equitable for various groups of workers. Assistance for workers during the PPKM tightening period is channeled through the Pre-Employment Card and Wage Subsidy Assistance (BSU) program. The Pre-Employment Card is planned to target workers who are victims of termination of employment (PHK) during the emergency PPKM period and level 3-4 PPKM.
Meanwhile, the wage subsidy is targeted at workers who have experienced a reduction in wages or have been laid off. The mechanism for obtaining assistance through the two programs is different. Registration for Pre-Employment Cards is done openly by random selection. Meanwhile, BSU is given to formal workers with a salary of Rp. 3.5 million and below who are registered with BP Jamsostek.
Head of Communication Management for Pre-Employment Cards, Louisa Tuhatu, Wednesday (4/8/2021), said that until now he is still waiting for the results of the meeting from the Job Creation Committee under the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs regarding the opening of the 18th batch of Pre-Employment Cards. The 17th batch has closed in early June 2021.
“We are still waiting for the results of the committee meeting. Maybe there will be news in a few days. What is certain, for the second semester, we will manage Rp 10 trillion and accept around 2.7 million recipients.” said Louisa when asked.
The pre-employment card budget, which was originally Rp 20 trillion in the second semester of 2021, was reduced to Rp 11.2 trillion. The additional budget, which was originally Rp 10 trillion, was divided in half with the BSU program which was revived by the government. BSU received a budget allocation of Rp. 8.8 trillion, while the Pre-Employment Card received an additional budget of Rp. 1.2 trillion.
In addition to the Pre-Employment Card, wage subsidy assistance for around 8 million workers affected by PPKM has also not been disbursed. Secretary General of the Ministry of Manpower, Anwar Sanusi, said that the target is that the aid can be transferred to the account of each beneficiary by this week.
Although BPJamsostek has already submitted the data for 1 million prospective recipients for the first phase of distribution by last week, there are stages that must be passed. First, the process of financial administration with the Ministry of Finance. Social assistance funds must be transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Manpower’s Budget Implementation List (DIPA). Second, the process of re-verifying the data of prospective recipients.
“We hope to be able to transfer the funds to the recipient’s account as soon as possible. Hopefully by this week.” said Anwar.
Unemployment prediction
Separately, LPEM FEB UI economist Muhammad Hanri said that the tightening of PPKM over the past month has definitely hit workers, especially those who work in non-essential sectors.
Therefore, social protection programs that are well targeted and quickly distributed, including incentive assistance for MSMEs and corporations, are important aspects to reduce unemployment this year.
LPEM UI predicts that at least 5.01 million mall/shopping center workers will be affected by the PPKM tightening. A total of 3.34 million people are in Java-Bali, while 1.67 million people are outside Java-Bali. In addition to mall workers, there are also 63,000 cinema workers.
Mall and cinema workers are estimated to be the most affected because they have to close activities during PPKM. “Referring to the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) data, their average income is in the range of IDR 1 million – 4 million per month. This means that they are not people who have high resilience when there is economic disruption.” said Hanri.
Another vulnerable group is informal workers or self-employed workers, whose numbers have continued to grow during the pandemic, but have not been accessed by the social assistance program specifically. They are also not included in the criteria for recipients of wage subsidies.
LPEM UI predicts that the open unemployment rate in August 2021 will reach the range of 7.1-7.3 percent of the total national workforce. (AGE)
Source: Kompas Daily. Edition: Thursday, August 5, 2021. Rubrik Ekonomi dan Bisnis. Page 12.
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