Page 68 - e-KLIPING KETENAGAKERJAAN 25 AGUSTUS 2020

The remaining 700,000 eligible recipients were registered individually with the BPJS
Ketenagakerjaan, instead of through their employer.
The wage subsidy scheme provides Rp 2.4 million (US$162.32) in two bimonthly disbursements
of Rp 1.2 million to cover a period of four months. Eligible recipients are workers who earn less
than Rp 5 million per month who have been furloughed or had their pay cut as part of their
employer’s downsizing response to the health crisis. Workers must also be active members of
BPJS Ketenagakerjaan as of June 30 to qualify for the scheme.

“They [individually registered workers] should come to BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. Once they report
their bank account number, [the money] can be transferred,” Febrio said at a virtual press
conference on Aug. 19.

The wage subsidy was initially launched on Aug. 4 after the Indonesian economy contracted 5.32
percent year-on-year (yoy) in the second quarter due to shrinking household spending and
investments.
A week later on Aug. 10, the government announced that it had increased the number of targeted
recipients by 2.7 million workers from 13 million to 15.7 million targeted recipients. It also
increased the wage subsidy budget by 13.9 percent to Rp 37.7 trillion to cover the increase in
targeted recipients.
The increased figure is intended to fill the gap left by the existing safety net programs, including
the Family Hope Program (PKH), the staple food card and the preemployment card program.

“There was an [uncovered] group, namely workers who had not been laid off but were
furloughed or [had] their pay cut because their employers were facing difficulties. They need
assistance,” Budi Gunadi Sadikin, who heads the national economic recovery task force, said
earlier on Aug. 10.

The government has allocated a Rp 695.2 trillion stimulus fund to minimize the economic impacts
of the health crisis. But it had spent only 21.7 percent of the budget as of Aug. 6, at a time when
accelerated spending was most needed.

In the three months from March, when Indonesia recorded its first two COVID-19 cases, to May,
3 million workers were either jobless or unable to work because the health crisis had brought
economy to a virtual standstill. With the country looking at a possible recession pending third-
quarter growth, the government is projecting that 5 million Indonesians will lose their jobs this
year.

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