Layoff Victims Need Work Security After COVID-19, The Pre-Employment Card Program Should Involve Entrepreneurs

Employee illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The number of workers who have been laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing day by day. After the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, these workers who lost their jobs need guarantees to return to work.

This guarantee cannot be obtained from online training classes in the Pre-Employment Card Program. The deteriorating condition of the business world makes this difficult to achieve.

The head of the Manpower, Vocational and Health Sector at the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (BPP HIPMI), Sari Pramono, suggested that the preparation of government programs should involve workers and business actors. Thus, the results will be beneficial for both workers and employers.

"Regarding the Pre-employment Card Program, the government should have involved us (entrepreneurs)," said Sari, in a written statement in Jakarta, Tuesday, May 12.

Apart from that, continued Sari, the government should also involve the business world to provide input regarding the skills needed for workers. It needs a match between workers and the business world.

"Even though workers' skills improve through the Pre-Employment Card Program, if the competencies are not in accordance with the needs of business actors, workers will not be absorbed," he said.

Sari said workers needed certainty to be able to work again after the COVID-19 pandemic had passed. It was hoped that this opportunity could be obtained through the Pre-Employment Card Program.

However, it turns out that online-based training classes to increase the competence of workers who have been laid off due to the Covid-19 pandemic do not provide opportunities for job placements.

"The Pre-Employment Card Program, if there is training, must be based on competence. Competence can be used to become an entrepreneur," he said.

According to him, there is no relationship and suitability of the program with the business world, especially in the midst of the economic conditions that are currently being hit. Formulation of various government programs and policies should involve input from workers.

"Thus, the needs of workers can be identified more precisely," he said.

Sari assessed that the Rp 1 million disbursement for Pre-Work Card Program recipients allocated for online training must be filled with something more useful, the program should be able to provide cash to victims of layoffs in the midst of an emergency situation of COVID-19.

"The training cost of Rp. 1 million must be more beneficial, for example, directly providing basic food or training should be useful. And the prospective workers must match the recruiting company needs, so all employer stakeholders must be involved," he added.