The Minister Of Manpower Said That The Informal Industry Is The Government's Biggest Challenge

Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli. (Photo: Aris Nurjani/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli said that the informal industry in Indonesia is still a big challenge, but the government is optimistic about facing it.

This is in line with President Prabowo Subianto's hope that social security must provide real benefits for workers.

"This informal industry is indeed not an easy homework and this is also our quick win and in accordance with the expectations of the President in this ideal system is a point of emphasis for him as well," he said at the Social Security Summit 2024, Tuesday, November 26.

Yassierli said the biggest challenge right now is how to ensure social security can provide real protection for informal workers.

"The issue is once again, I hope it's not only limited to how to increase the participation of (sectors) informally, even though it's still a challenge at this time. But really then this social security makes something for them," he said

To improve the performance of informal sector workers, Yassierli conveyed the importance of collaborating in this effort, one of the steps is to encourage entrepreneurial training for the informal sector.

"Then at this time we are continuing to intensify entrepreneurial training. We really want informal workers, namely more forward. So it's not just informal by common sense. There are skills there, there are training results there, there are coaching there," he said.

With a more comprehensive approach, Yassierli hopes that the informal sector can be more advanced and competitive, so that social security can provide maximum benefits for those who work in this sector.

On the same occasion, the President Director of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, Anggoro Eko Cahyo, said that the number of participations reached 40.83 million workers had been protected, of which 25.8 million were formal workers, 9.4 million were informal workers and 5.6 million construction workers.

"This year we have distributed Rp48.06 trillion to 3.5 million workers and heirs and education student duties of Rp371 billion to 89 thousand workers' children," he said.

Anggoro said that until now the investment fund has reached IDR 781.96 trillion, an increase of 13.85 percent (YoY), for investment results it reached IDR 42.88 trillion, an increase of 9.14 percent (YoY) and for contribution receipts it reached IDR 86.90 trillion, an increase of 7.96 percent (YoY).

Anggoro said that currently the status of Indonesian workers is dominated by informal workers with 60 percent of the total number of workers, namely 84.13 million people.

"The challenge for informal workers is from 60 percent, currently in Indonesia, which is 60 million informal workers, currently only 9.4 million are participants from 60 million or 13 percent who are protected by employment," he said.

According to Anggoro, there are 30.1 million informal workers who are classified as poor workers, including farmers and fishermen.

"That there are 30.1 million informal workers who are included in the 1.4 decile, namely the poor workers who are classified as many farmers, fishermen and vulnerable jobs in the data," he said.