Jakarta ( WNAM MONITORING): Unemployment is a crucial issue that the Indonesian Government has tried to tackle through a number of initiatives since 2024.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the number of unemployed in the working-age group stood at 7.47 million in August 2024, a decline of 390 thousand compared to the year-ago period.
Thus, the open unemployment rate fell from 5.32 percent in August 2023 to 4.91 percent in August 2024, it added.
In February 2024, the Manpower Ministry, which, at that time, was still under former manpower minister Ida Fauziyah, initiated a job fair called Naker Fest 2024 to empower the young generation and optimize employment development, including by absorbing labor and reducing joblessness.
The event also sought to bolster synergy between the government, businesses, and the community for facing challenges in the employment sector.
Even after the transition to President Prabowo Subianto’s government, the job fair has been continued by the ministry, which is currently led by Manpower Minister Yassierli.
Another effort made this year has been the rollout of the Labor Market Information System (SIPK), which aims to build a sophisticated and comprehensive information system and describe the structure of the workforce, its characteristics, and supply and needs.
The strategy is regulated in the Manpower Minister’s Regulation Number 5 of 2024 on SIPK. It is expected to improve the quality of human resources so that they can gain the skills and competencies to meet the demands of the job market.
In addition, the Ministry of Manpower is focusing on addressing the issue of child labor.
Ahead of the National Children’s Day commemoration on July 23, 2024, the ministry launched the Phase II Child Labor-Free Indonesia Road Map, which had been prepared since 2023.
The effort is expected to gradually reduce the number of child laborers in Indonesia, especially cases of the worst forms of child labor (WFCL).
The road map is expected to serve as a guide for all stakeholders, including local governments, businesses, trade unions or laborers, civil society organizations, child advocates, and others in preparing programs to accelerate the elimination of child labor and WFCL.
Workers’ safety
Regarding workers’ safety, the government is striving to ensure that all workers in various sectors ranging from industry to micro and small businesses have benefited from the implementation of occupational safety and health (OSH) practices.
For that reason, the government has launched the National OSH Program document, which is the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Manpower and the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Indonesia and Timor Leste.
The document is also a follow-up to the OSH profile document, which was prepared in 2018 and 2022, and was drafted in response to the need for improving OSH by building national synergy and coordination.
In general, the document is expected to serve as a reference for the direction of OSH development nationally so that it is in line with the orientation and achievement of national development targets laid down in the 2024–2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
The document is also expected to improve the understanding and implementation of OSH culture across Indonesia.
Job expansion
To tackle the unemployment rate, the Ministry of Manpower has been consistently developing community job training centers (BLKs) that meet various needs of the community related to increasing their competitiveness.
The ministry is also encouraging BLKs to serve as entrepreneurial incubators by pursuing synergy between vocational training and job opportunity expansion.
To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Manpower is not only collaborating with ministries and agencies but also various parties ranging from businesses to academics to ensure that the benefits are enjoyed by the people optimally.
With the presence of entrepreneurial incubators, the community BLKs are expected to support the economy through entrepreneurship by supporting job absorption and reducing unemployment.
As of September 2024, the government has built 4,282 community BLKs spread from Aceh to Papua.
Furthermore, regarding wages, the central government has increased the 2025 Provincial Minimum Wage by 6.5 percent.
Minister of Manpower, Yassierli, said that his ministry is ready to provide solutions to companies that have the potential to experience difficulties following the wage increase.
The Ministry of Manpower has prepared a team to provide specific steps to industries that are projected to be significantly affected by the increase.
Other supports
The Ministry of Manpower is also supporting workers affected by employment termination.
The ministry earlier prepared stimulus in the form of unemployment benefits, namely the provision of 60 percent of the wage for six months, for those who lost their jobs.
The government also prepared training benefits of Rp2.4 million (around US$147.81) and made it easier for laid-off workers to access job-related information.
The effort is expected to increase the opportunities for workers to return to work by utilizing the stimulus that is designed to be valid throughout 2025.
