Layoffs Everywhere, DPR Asks The Ministry Of Manpower To Prepare A Flexible Social Protection Scheme For Workers

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the DPR, Yahya Zaini, highlighted the results of a survey by the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) which revealed that more than 50 percent of companies had reduced labor or layoffs due to economic pressure.

Yahya also asked the government, in this case the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker), to prepare a flexible social protection scheme for workers. This is because the condition of reducing the workforce is expected to continue in the future.

"There must be a social protection scheme that is flexible and adaptive to the wave of layoffs, especially for informal and contract workers," Yahya said, Tuesday, July 29.

Yahya also encouraged the Ministry of Manpower to strengthen labor reskilling and upskilling programs, especially those that experienced downsizing.

"Increase supervision of the implementation of layoffs so that they remain within the legal corridor and prioritize social dialogue between employers and workers," he said.

Yahya assessed that the trend of reducing labor in Indonesia is not just a matter of industrial relations, but a systemic symptom of the national economic adaptation crisis to global pressure and weakening domestic purchasing power.

"Large-scale layoffs do not only have an impact on workers and their families, but also have a domino effect on social stability and the national economy," said Yahya.

The commission leadership in the DPR in charge of employment affairs also assessed that this condition demanded an integrated and cross-sectoral policy response. And of course, said Yahya, policies that favor business sustainability and job protection.

"We cannot allow the business world to bear its own burden without the presence of the state in the form of concrete policy interventions," he said.

Yahya also reminded that the sustainability of the business and the protection of the workforce are not two conflicting poles. In a crisis situation, according to him, these two things actually have to support each other.

"The state must not be present only as spectators, but as policy directors who are able to create a fair economic ecosystem," concluded Yahya.