Coordinating Minister Airlangga Believes That The Pre-Employment Card Program Will Continue Next Year

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto believes that the Pre-Employment program will continue at the time of the change of leadership after the upcoming 2024 election.

"We are optimistic that this program (the work) will continue and the DPR, of course, as a multiparty, will approve the flagship program," said Airlangga, quoted from ANTARA, Thursday, November 23.

Airlangga explained, whether or not a program is determined by the budget.

The budget for next year is determined by the current government which can entrust sustainable programs such as Pre-Employment.

If the budget for the program is approved by parliament, the program will run next year.

However, there is still the possibility that the budget for the program is canceled, which means the program cannot run next year.

However, what needs to be noted, said Coordinating Minister Airlangga, is that the cancellation of the budget also requires a longer process.

"Of course this multiparty will approve the flagship program, so if we propose superior programs including pre-employment cards in the future budget, namely the 2024 State Budget, then this program will continue," he explained.

Since 2020-2023, the number of training participants in the Pre-Employment program has reached 17.5 million people from 514 districts/cities.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said that the Pre-Employment program is currently one of the best large-scale training programs to improve the skills of Indonesian workers.

The program is still one of the best ways to prepare human resources (HR) to have superior competence in the world of work.

"However, Pre-Employment is proven to be an initial large-scale effort, using market and inclusive mechanisms. Pre-employment collaborates with various parties, government and the private sector to make this happen," he explained.

Prior to pre-employment, the training from all Ministries/Institutions (K/L) only amounted to around 870,000 people per year.

In 2045, it is projected that the number of Indonesian workers will reach 233 million, and based on data from AT Kearney (2023) it is stated that 50 percent of Indonesian workers need to be trained. This means that there are around 117 million Indonesian workers who need to be trained to achieve this target.