Economists Call BLT More Effectively In Helping Layoff Victims Than Pre-Employment Cards

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government continues to strive to anticipate the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19, which is increasingly widespread and has an impact on the national economy. One of them is by issuing a Pre-Employment Card Program. However, this is considered not to solve the problem.

Economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) Bhima Yudhistira said that the Pre-Work Cards were ineffective and had not been on target. This program makes government spending even bigger and actually becomes a waste of the budget.

According to Bhima, online training, as a requirement for getting cash assistance from the Pre-Work Card, is considered not important anymore in a pandemic situation such as the current one where economic growth can reach 1 to 2 percent.

"We certainly hope that the Pre-Work Card must be changed. Because now we don't need online training," he said, in a virtual discussion entitled "Preventing Mass Layoffs Saves the National Economy", in Jakarta, Friday, April 17.

Moreover, said Bhima, participants of the Pre-Work Card program also cannot work after the training, because the local government has started to implement a Large-Scale Social Restriction (PSBB) policy. Online training, which must be followed by program participants, does not provide a way out of termination of employment (PHK).

"This means that if the Pre-Employment Card is still enforced with online model training it will not solve the problem of purchasing power. It will also not solve the problems of people who are laid off," he said.

Furthermore, Bhima actually suggested that the government provide direct cash assistance (BLT) to people affected by COVID-19, without having to waste money with complex bureaucracies and not on target such as the Work Card Program.

"They need more direct cash assistance or cash transfers, groceries assistance. Compared to having to take part in (pre-work) training. The current condition is ineffective because it must be overhauled. In my opinion, there is a time to remodel into BLT for people who are laid off," he explained.

Previously, the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) stated that the Pre-Employment Card program was not well targeted for hotel employees affected by the corona virus or COVID-19. This is because one of the things that participants in the pre-employment card program will get is training, while hotel employees have received it from the company.

PHRI Chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said, rather than training with a budget of IDR 1 million per participant, hotel and restaurant employees need more social security networks.

"We are also the sector with the most number of certified employees. So we don't want to deny training," he said in a video conference with journalists, in Jakarta, Thursday, April 16.

Hariyadi said, PHRI did not reject the Pre-employment Card program, it was just that the program was deemed not necessarily in accordance with the conditions of employees in every economic sector.

PHRI also hopes that the incentives provided by the Pre-employment Card program can be entirely in cash. The reason is that the provision of cash can reduce the burden on employees who are being laid off or are affected by layoffs.

"I think this is very important in the current conditions, the existence of a social safety net," he said.