BPS: Out Of 511 Thousand Jakarta Workers Laid Off Due To The Pandemic, 250 Thousand Are Still Unemployed

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of DKI Jakarta Province recorded that there were more than 250,000 people who were unemployed as of February 2021 due to being laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This figure was revealed after BPS compared the conditions of open unemployment in August 2020 with February 2021.

Head of BPS DKI Jakarta, Buyung Airlangga explained, initially, the peak of massive layoffs occurred in August 2020, whereas many as 511,000 workers were laid off.

"When there was a very deep pandemic in 2020, DKI Jakarta lost 511,000 workers. That happened for the estimated data in August. So at the peak of last year's pandemic, DKI Jakarta lost more than 511,000 jobs", said Buyung at a press conference virtual, Thursday, July 15.

Furthermore, the government eased mobility restrictions with the Transitional PSBB to Micro PPKM. Buyung said, in February 2021, there was a recovery in the unemployment rate.

"Along with yesterday's easing, we can also see that in February this year there has been a slight recovery in employment. Of the 511,000 who were laid off, 250,000 workers have entered the industry again", he said.

Thus, there is still a gap of more than 250 thousand workers who have yet to find work due to being laid off since last August.

"We see that there is still a difference of more than 250 thousand workers or worker fields that were lost in August and have not been recovered until the position of February 2021", explained Buyung.

Buyung said the open unemployment rate in February 2021 decreased slightly when compared to August 2020, which jumped from before the pandemic entered Indonesia.

Initially, in February 2020, the TPT (Open Unemployment Rate) in DKI Jakarta was 4.93 percent. Then, in August TPT jumped to 10.95 percent. Then, slightly decreased in February by 8.51 percent.