Airlangga Hartarto: The Ciptaker Law Makes Unemployed People Turn Into Workers

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister (Menko) for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said the Job Creation Law (Ciptaker Law) would help overcome unemployment in the country, which amounted to 5 percent.

"One thing that is encouraged in the Ciptaker Law, so that they (unemployed) work is simplified and they are also simplified to enter the business sector," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga as quoted by Antara, Friday, November 6.

He said the current unemployment rate was still 5 percent. In addition, the number of workers in the informal sector is still high. Coordinating Minister Airlangga conveyed that the Job Creation Law would provide a solution to the unemployment problem.

He further said that related to the national economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had taken various handling steps, one of which was providing a stimulus.

The stimulus, said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga, had been given from July to November. Of the total budget of Rp.695 trillion per November, Rp. 366.86 trillion has been utilized.

Meanwhile, Airlangga said, the economic growth of a number of developed and developing countries showed improvement in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the second quarter of 2020 as achieved by Indonesia, and this illustrates that the world economy is starting to recover from the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga said the economies of a number of Southeast Asian countries were also showing a positive trend, although contraction was still overshadowed by a smaller dose.

"Compared to other countries, almost all trends are positive, meaning that the world is starting to recover," he said.

Indonesia recorded economic growth of minus 3.49 percent on an annual basis (year on year / yoy) in the third quarter of 2020, which continued the contraction from the second quarter of 2020 which was minus 5.32 percent (yoy). Even though it is still experiencing contraction, Airlangga said the pace of the domestic economy is on the path to recovery.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga believes Indonesia has passed the deepest phase of economic slowdown. The former Minister of Industry hopes that in the fourth quarter of 2020, the economy can reverse to a positive trend, although there is the possibility that it will still be trapped at a negative level.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga's projection for economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 is minus 1.6 percent to 0.6 percent.

If you look at the quarter to quarter, Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 has reached 5.05 percent (q-to-q). Several business sectors, he said, also experienced improvements in the third half of this year, compared to the second half of 2020. However, if you look at the growth of business fields from year to year (yoy), there is still a slowdown in several sectors.

"We see in sectoral terms, agriculture, mining, processing. On a quarter to quarter basis, processing rose 5.25 percent. And also recycle-based procurement also rose 8 percent. Warehousing also increased soaring that it boosted consumption by 24.48 percent," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga.

He hopes that the economic recovery will continue in the fourth quarter of 2020. He sees several macro-economic indicators such as the manufacturing index, motor vehicle sales data, consumer confidence index and retail sales continue to stretch.

"In addition, sales of raw materials and auxiliary materials have also increased, indicating the industry has started to (recover)," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga.