Apindo: Layoffs Not Only Occur In Indonesia But Many Countries

Layoffs (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) stated that the trend of termination of employment (PHK) actually does not only occur in Indonesia, but many countries.

Apindo's Head of Tenagakerjaan Bob Azam said that currently many countries in the world are being hit by a storm of layoffs.

According to Bob, the phenomenon of layoffs occurred due to the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Indeed, when it comes to layoffs now (occurring) in any country because the world economy is shrinking. When COVID-19 we did not produce anything, but only one we produced, cost money," said Bob when met at the Ministry of Industry office, Jakarta, Wednesday, July 30.

"So, the money is used all kinds of things. Now, now is the time for us to pay, so the economy is shrinking. Indeed, at a certain time the economy will be depressed. So, layoffs are everywhere, not just Indonesia," he continued.

Bob gave an example, the age of youth in China has now reached 20-30 percent of the total population.

In addition, he said, Singapore is also facing a phenomenon of reducing banking labor in response to digitalization.

"So, the layoffs are everywhere. The problem is how people after layoffs can get jobs again. Sometimes we fuss over their layoffs, but forget how creating employees are," said Bob.

He considered that creating more new jobs was needed to overcome the problem of layoffs.

He likens that if there are layoffs on 10 workers, it is hoped that there will be at least 15 new jobs.

"So, job opportunities must be opened. Therefore, regulations must be more elastic, not too complicated," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli conveyed the need for layoff mitigation by looking at the root of the problem from upstream to downstream. He emphasized that the government has also provided job loss guarantees.

"First, we see this layoff as a work from upstream to downstream. (Mitigation) it is clear that there is now a Job Loss Guarantee (JKP) that anticipates from the start, the benefits of which we enlarge," he said.

In addition, Yassierli said, the Employment Termination Task Force (Satgas LAYOFFS) is also expected to overcome this problem.

"Secondly, we hope that the layoffs Task Force will be immediately (disbursed). However, part of the layoff task force is now being carried out by the Ministry of Manpower," he explained.