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In a separate statement last month, KSPI suggested an alternating shift system or
partial dismissal in a bid to keep production running without laying off workers. In
the case of a partial lockdown, it also urged employers to send their employees
home without cutting their salaries.

Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah urged all industry players to make layoffs their last
choice during the pandemic. Instead, companies could lower salaries or reduce
working days and hours, among other alternatives.

"The situations and conditions are indeed challenging, but this is the moment for the
government, business people and workers to work together and find a solution to
mitigate the impact of COVID-19," Ida said in a teleconferenced briefing on
Wednesday.

Statistics Indonesia data shows that out of the country's workforce of 133.56
million, 7.05 million are unemployed and more than 55 percent of those employed
work in the informal sector.

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman for
manpower and industrial relations Anton J. Supit said on March 20 that companies
had been implementing alternating shifts, reduced working hours and had offered
"voluntary layoff" packages to keep layoffs a last resort during the crisis.

The COVID-19 crisis is expected to wipe out 6.7 percent of working hours globally in
the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, according to
an International Labor Organization (ILO) report published on Tuesday. The ILO
described the pandemic as "the worst global crisis since World War II".

The ILO stated that there was a high risk that end-of-year worldwide job losses
would be significantly higher than the initial ILO projection of 25 million, depending
on future developments and policy measures.

"Workers and businesses are facing catastrophes in both developed and developing
economies," said ILO director-general Guy Ryder. "We have to move fast, decisively
and together. The right, urgent, measures could make the difference between
survival and collapse."

The government has announced plans to spend Rp 405 trillion of additional state
expenditure to fund health care, social spending and business recovery programs.
Of the amount, Rp 110 trillion has been allocated for social safety net programs,
including Rp 20 trillion for a pre-employment card program to cover 5.6 million laid-
off workers and Rp 150 trillion for a small and medium business economic recovery
program.

Airlangga University labor law expert M. Hadi Subhan said the current economic
stimuli and the preemployment card launched last month were insufficient to
cushion short-term shocks in the labor sector. He advised the government to

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