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Indonesia: 1.4 million people register for preemployment card in a day as pandemic hits economy
The Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, which spearheads the national committee of job creation, has recorded 1.4 million applicants for the preemployment card program just a day after registration opened as companies lay off workers to survive the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Of the 1.4 million applicants, we once recorded 80,000 applicants for the preemployment card program in a minute, so we increased the [website] server capacity,” Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Sunday, as quoted in a statement.
Partnering with eight companies, such as online learning platform Skill Academy and MauBelajarApa, the program is offering at least 900 courses including accounting, English language, information technology and business management for a total of 5.6 million people. As of Sunday, 77,834 people or 5.43 percent of the current applicants had completed registration via prakerja.go.id.
The government brought forward the launch of the program to the end of March as it tried to minimize the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the economy as businesses face disruptions due to weakening demand and a call for practicing social distancing to limit the virus spread.
Over 1.2 million workers from 74,439 companies in both the formal and informal sectors have either been told to stay home or have been laid off as a result of the pandemic, Manpower Ministry data showed last Tuesday.
As of Sunday, the fast-spreading coronavirus had infected 4,241 people and caused 373 deaths in the country. As many as 359 people have recovered from the contagious respiratory illness.
“The focus or priority of the preemployment card program, therefore, is to cover workers who are made idle and laid off, as well as small and medium entrepreneurs who lose their source of income,” said Airlangga, a Golkar Party politician.
The government, which is allocating Rp 20 trillion (US$1.2 billion) out of this year’s budget for the program, is targeting people aged over 18 who do not attend school or college, particularly those who have yet to receive any social assistance, for the program.
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/04/13/1-4-million-people-register-for-preemployment-card-in-a-day-as-pandemic-hits-economy.html