Cash Assistance For Salary Workers Below IDR 5 Million Starting September

JAKARTA - The Minister of Manpower (Menaker), Ida Fauziyah, is ready to run a salary subsidy program for workers who have wages below IDR 5 million. This direct subsidy is believed to be able to help workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This assistance is a stimulus program being prepared with the National Economic Recovery Task Force (PEN), Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Finance, and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. We are targeting this program to run in September," said Menaker Ida Fauziyah in his statement quoted on Friday, August 7.

Menaker Ida said the salary subsidy that will be provided for four months is an expansion of the social assistance stimulus (bansos) which aims to increase the purchasing power and economy of workers and their families who due to COVID-19 have reduced their income.

"The number of private workers with salaries below Rp. 5 million is 13.8 million workers. This data comes from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan which will continue to be validated to ensure it is right on target and minimize duplication. The government hopes that this subsidy can maintain the purchasing power and welfare of workers affected by COVID. -19, "he said.

Menaker Ida added that the salary subsidy is Rp. 600 thousand per month for four months and will be given once every two months. This means that once the disbursement, workers will receive subsidies of Rp1.2 million.

"The government will pay twice because we want to ensure that purchasing power and consumption is maintained to encourage economic growth in the third and fourth quarters," he said.

Menaker Ida confirmed that workers who receive this subsidy are private workers outside of PNS and BUMN employees. Subsidized workers must be workers who are actively registered with BPJS Ketenagakerjaan with a contribution of under IDR 150,000 per month or equivalent to a salary of under IDR 5 million per month.

"Recipients of salary subsidies are workers who pay BPJS Ketenagakerjaan contributions. This is an appreciation for registered workers and paying BPJS Ketenagakerjaan contributions," he said.

Menaker Ida revealed that for this subsidy program, the Ministry of Finance has budgeted around IDR 33.1 trillion. It is hoped that this new stimulus will be able to accelerate the process of economic recovery and prevent recession.