The Official Pre-Employment Program Continues In 2024

Pre-Employment Card Program (Photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA The Pre-Employment Card Program, which was launched in 2020, has become an icon of the government's program in encouraging the Indonesian people to improve skills and competitiveness in the work market. This program has provided benefits to 17.5 million people in 514 districts/cities throughout Indonesia.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that the Pre-Employment program had been evaluated a lot and the results were positive.

"The Pre-Employment Program has proven effective in helping the wider community to get jobs has also increased the spirit of learning through digitization," he explained in his official statement Friday, February 22.

Airlangga said that in 2023 with a normal scheme, the membership rate was 14.29 percent higher than the initial target, the impact of increasing job opportunities was also confirmed by a Definit study from ADB where the figure reached 95 percent.

For more than three years, the Pre-Employment Card Program has provided inclusive access to training including 51 percent of women, 48 percent of whom come from 212 districts/cities of extreme poor, 2 percent from underdeveloped districts/cities, and 3 percent from people with disabilities.

In 2023 alone, Pre-Employment has returned to the normal scheme and collaborated with 245 Training Institutes to provide no less than 1,216 trainings ranging from face-to-face training (offline) and webinars (online) in various training categories such as greenskills, digital including AI, which supports downstreaming.

Apart from Definit, there are still many research evaluations of the impact of Pre-Employment, such as a Precision study which states that there is an increase in monthly income by 17 percent - 21 percent of recipients compared to non-recipients.

Airlangga said the government believes that with strengthening in various fields, the Pre-Employment Program will be more beneficial for the people of Indonesia.

"Today, a new wave of Pre-Employment recipients is opened. With a target of 1.148 million participants. This quota will be executed in stages by the Implementing Management of the Pre-Employment Card Program (MPPKP)," said Airlangga.

According to Airlangga, in various considerations including various positive evaluations and Pre-Employment commitments to continue to improve themselves, it was decided that this program would be continued in 2024.

In addition, this year's implementation is also improved in quality with the existence of additional training modes that support flexibility and accessibility, especially for participants from Eastern Indonesia who have a time difference, namely the re-activation of asynchronous training.

Regarding Pre-Employment in 2024, it will strengthen the following, including:

- Improved collaboration: The Pre-Employment Program will cooperate with more parties, especially the Ministry of Agriculture/Institutions to provide various quality trainings relevant to job market needs.- Extending reach: The Pre-Employment Program will reach more people in remote and underdeveloped areas, as well as encouraging the involvement of Training Institutions in more districts/cities throughout Indonesia. - Improved quality of training: The training mode will be coupled with the presence of an asynchronous mode, namely self-learning mode or Self-Paced Learning (SPL).- This method has uniqueness where training must be accessed according to the flow/sequence presented, and cannot be denied or accelerated. Although this mode can provide flexibility, this mode requires higher personal commitment from its users. Airlangga added that Indonesia's 2045 vision, namely to become a developed country at 100 years of Indonesian independence, is a great goal that is to be realized together. However, to really accelerate, Indonesian resources need to be equipped with relevant skills.

Meanwhile, training for large-scale upskilling and reskilling such as Pre-Employment should be continued. Airlangga also congratulated all prospective participants who will take part in the Pre-Employment Card Program in 2024.

"Continue to increase competence to become a competitive workforce towards advanced Indonesia," he said.

As for being able to receive training scholarships through regular programs to Join the Pre-Employment Wave, there are several conditions including:

- Never been a Pre-Employment Card Program Recipient.- Indonesian citizens aged at least 18 years and at the highest 64 years.- Not currently pursuing formal education.- Looking for work, workers/laborers who have been laid off, or workers/laborers who require increased work competence, such as workers/laborers who are laid off and workers are not beneficiaries, including micro and small business actors.- Not State Officials, Leaders and Members of the DPRD, State Civil Apparatus, TNI Soldiers, Police Members, Village Heads and Village Apparatus and Directors/Commissioners/Supervisory Council at BUMN or BUMD.- Maximum 2 NIK in 1 KK who are Recipients of the Pre-Employment Card Program.