Head Of BKPM: The Job Creation Law Is The Law Of The Future

Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia said that the Omnibus Law on Job Creation is a law for the future because it will create jobs in the future.

"The Job Creation Law is the law of the future. Why is that? Because this law will create jobs for our brothers and sisters who are not yet able to work," he said in an online press conference, in Jakarta, reported by Antara , Friday, October 9.

Bahlil said the Job Creation Law would also be able to accommodate the demographic bonus that Indonesia would achieve in 2035.

"This is the law of the future, this is a law for young people where the demographic bonus in 2035 is at its peak. Imagine if this is not able to create jobs for our younger siblings, we will be the generation that will regret it later, "he said.

Bahlil explained that in the future BKPM has 2 priorities, namely supporting economic transformation and encouraging labor-intensive investment.

Economic transformation is carried out by encouraging investment with added value and technological value. Meanwhile, labor-intensive investment is encouraged to absorb labor.

According to Bahlil, the two priorities must go hand in hand. However, he acknowledged that investment with high technology did reduce the absorption of labor due to replacing human power with machines.

"We know from day to day the realization of investment is high but the rate of employment is decreasing. In 2014, every 1 percent of economic growth absorbs 300 thousand people. Now, it doesn't go down to 200 thousand people because technology is getting more sophisticated," he said.

This condition, continued Bahlil, made BKPM have to take strategic steps so that incoming investment could still open the widest possible job opportunities.

"BKPM formulates strategic steps so that incoming investment can create maximum employment with several conditions, high technology, but there is also a way to replace human labor so that investment realization and employment are balanced," he explained.

Based on BKPM data, until Semester I 2020, realized investment reached IDR 402.6 trillion with employment reaching 566,194 workers from 57,815 projects.