Menaker Ida Fauziyah: There Are 1.21 Million Unemployed People In The Ganjar Pranowo Area

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah said the COVID-19 pandemic had caused an increase in the unemployment rate in Indonesia.

"Data from BPS (Central Bureau of Statistics) shows that there is a significant increase in the number and rate of unemployment due to the impact of the pandemic. In August 2020 the number of unemployed reached 9.7 million people with a TPT (open unemployment rate) of 7 percent, there was an increase of 1.84 percent. compared to the previous year, "he said at the opening of the Year 2021 Competency Based Training (PBK) at BLK Surakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, March 10.

Ida Fauziyah said the labor sector in Indonesia was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that has been going on since last year.

"Whereas in the previous five years we had succeeded in reducing the unemployment rate to 4.99 percent in February 2020," he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the unemployment rate in Central Java, he said, based on data from BPS in August 2020 it showed that there were 1.21 million unemployed people. This figure increased by 396,000 people compared to the previous year.

"There is a quite large increase in the unemployment rate, namely 2.04 percent compared to the previous year and it is estimated that around 3.97 million people of working age have been affected by the pandemic in Central Java Province," he said.

He said that the pandemic certainly adds to the challenges of labor conditions apart from the existing challenges, namely related to the quality of human resources, competence and productivity. National data show, of the total working population, around 57 percent have a lower level of education, namely junior high school and below with limited abilities.

"For the province of Central Java, the figure is higher, namely the percentage of the population who work with low education by 65 percent. Apart from the problems of low education and workers' skills, which are coupled with the impact of the pandemic, it is important to remember that we are currently in an era. the 4.0 industrial revolution which has an impact on the transformation of the labor sector, "he said.

To be able to answer these challenges, he hopes that all parties can collaborate and work together to solve the latest problems in the labor sector.

"One of them is by conducting training programs that can anticipate the need for 'skills' and competence of workers during the pandemic and afterwards, because currently the best protection for the new workforce and workers is competency protection. With skills, each individual will have the ability. working continuously both working for other people and opening up new jobs, which in turn will be able to contribute to improving the economy and welfare, "he said.