Some Minus Points Of Indef Version Pre-employment Card

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Pre-Work Card Program, which is currently designed as semi-social assistance (Bansos), continues to receive criticism from the public. The results of a survey conducted by the Institute for Development Economics and Finance (Indef) of this program received more negative sentiment from the public. For one thing, because in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, victims of layoffs need cash assistance more than online training.

Indef Program Director, Esther Sri Astuti, said that the Pre-Work Card program was not originally designed for pandemic conditions. However, under current conditions the government should be able to adjust to the needs required by the community.

Furthermore, Esther explained, there are several shortcomings in the Pre-Employment Card program. First, the training method. During this pandemic, training that should have been online and offline has become completely online, involving eight digital platforms.

Esther said, the problem that arises is that the internet network in Indonesia is not evenly distributed. So that people who experience layoffs (PHK) and live in remote areas of the country have very minimal opportunities to benefit from the program.

"It may be hampered by the internet network. Lack of interaction between instructors and participants will reduce the effectiveness of the training. It's the same if I give online lectures, it feels different from meeting in person. I feel like talking to a wall," he said, in a video conference with reporters, Tuesday, 8 May.

People with Low Education Untouched

If you look at the structure of the workforce in Indonesia, as many as 199.38 million people are of working age and 6.88 million people are unemployed. While the rest are working and not the workforce.

Esther said, from the main employment structure, it turns out that many work in the agriculture, trade, processing and accommodation sectors. Meanwhile, only 13.02 percent of the working population are highly educated. Meanwhile 50.96 million or 38.89 percent are graduates of elementary school (SD). Then, 87 percent of workers graduated from SMP-SMK / SMA.

"The question is how can the Pre-Employment Card reach people with low education? Meanwhile, if we look at the current training, it is still carried out online, of course not all of them are technology literate," he said.

According to Esther, from the data on the unemployment rate, it turns out that women's open unemployment is lower than men and they mostly come from SD-SMA / SMK education because the theory states that education is directly proportional to the opportunity to find work.

Training Material Does Not Fit the Needs in the Field

Esther said, the Pre-Employment Card training material is not much different from the free content on the YouTube platform. In fact, the budget issued from the APBN is not small to facilitate this training.

"How come the training material only provides training on making dumplings, how come it's only training on making croquettes. Now if we see whether this training material should not be able to link and match with companies so that the curriculum is designed together," he said.

According to Esther, if the training material provided is discussed with the company, it can be seen what the needs in the labor market are. So that training will be more effective. This provides two benefits, namely the material presented is not arbitrary and after graduating the participants are guaranteed to get a job.

"So participants can be linked with companies that want to accommodate them. With that, it is certain that participants who have passed the certificate can immediately work, because there is already a market need. Therefore, it is necessary to see a map of which industries require labor. work, "he said.

In addition, said Esther, this Pre-Work Card program should have looked at the industry map as a reference for providing training materials. For example, which regions and industries require a lot of labor.

"For example, if we look at the industrial map of the Ministry of Industry 2020, the glove industry, hand sanitizers, ethanol are industries that require labor," he said.

Training Costs Too Expensive

According to Esther, the online training budget cannot be separated from the spotlight. Of the Rp20 trillion in the pre-employment card budget, Rp5.6 trillion was allocated for online training. However, participants who have completed the training are not guaranteed work.

"Another issue is the training budget. This training budget should there be a standardization of training costs accompanied by training materials," he said.

According to Esther, participants who have passed and received a Pre-Employment Card certificate have also not received assurance that the company can accommodate them. In fact, in Indonesia there is already an example that can be seen regarding training for workers, namely the Apple Academy in Bintaro with now opening in Surabaya and Batam.

Furthermore, according to Esther, this Apple company opens the widest possible opportunity for potential participants but with strict conditions and selection, with a number of about 1000 people per year. After being accepted within one year, participants must attend training and be asked to make an application that can be installed on the Apple Store. However, the company does not require that after graduation they have to work at Apple, but participants are free to choose.

"Forms like that may be cloned by the government to reduce unemployment. At the same time the material is definitely a link and match between job seekers and companies that provide jobs," he explained.

Ineffective Training Programs

According to Esther, the pre-employment card scheme known as semi-social assistance is also problematic. The pre-employment card scheme that needs to complete training first can only get social assistance of IDR 600 thousand per month, so there is a big temptation for participants to choose the shortest and easiest training as long as they get social assistance.

"If it is in the form of semi-social assistance, will it not cause moral hazard, for example I am a potential participant because I want to get assistance of Rp. 600 thousand per month, so just come along," he said.

Esther said that this Pre-Employment Card did have many challenges apart from having to deal with victims who were dismissed (PHK), it also had to be able to provide materials that were effective and needed by the community.