Bappenas: Unemployment Predicted To Reach 12.7 Million In 2021

JAKARTA - Minister of National Development Planning / Head of Bappenas Suharso Monoarfa is worried about the increasing unemployment rate due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is because not a few companies have had to terminate their employment (PHK) until they go bankrupt because they are unable to withstand the pressure of COVID-19.

"In 2021, unemployment is estimated to reach 10.7 million to 12.7 million people," he said at a working meeting with Commission XI of the Indonesian Parliament, Monday, June 22.

According to Suharso, this number is higher than the statement of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), namely the unemployment rate as of February 2020 was 6.8 million people, an increase of 60 thousand people from the 2019 position.

"It is estimated that there will be an increase in unemployment of 4 million to 5.5 million people in 2020 from what was recorded in 2019," he said.

Meanwhile, the open unemployment rate (TPT) in 2020 will also increase to 8.1 percent to 9.2 percent, higher than the realization of 5.28 percent in 2019.

"So that the open unemployment rate in 2021 will be between 7.7 percent and 9.1 percent," he said.

Suharso hopes that this unemployment rate can be returned at least close to before the outbreak of COVID-19. This is because the epidemic that has occurred since the beginning of the year has caused people's purchasing power to decline.

According to Suharso, for the period from January to June the purchasing power of the people was lost amounting to Rp362 trillion. One of the causes is the loss of working hours for 10 weeks in sectors that are driving the economy ranging from manufacturing to tourism to investment.

The Minister of Manpower @idafauziyah has again warned the business world that the #PHK decision be the last resort in dealing with the impact of the # COVID19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/iR71yMJvUj

- Ministry of Manpower (@KemnakerRI) April 22, 2020

Furthermore, he said, the loss of working hours caused people's income to decrease. So that the purchasing power is depressed and MSMEs do not get income.

"This is what explains why no buyers or MSMEs get income that has dropped drastically and causes manufacturing utilization to drop by 30 percent," he said.