Yustinus Paat, Herman, Jakarta – The Jakarta provincial government has asked workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic to register on a special site to receive their unemployment benefits.
According to the Jakarta Manpower, Transmigration and Energy Agency Head Andri Yansyah, the government has been collecting data on workers that have been laid off or put on unpaid forced leave during the pandemic.
"These workers must now verify their personal data through the www.prakerja.go.id website. [The process will] start today until Thursday at 4 p.m," Andri said on Monday.
According to Andri, a total of 323,224 workers from 39,664 companies affected by the pandemic had registered with the Jakarta provincial government in two phases by April 11.
There were 30,363 workers laid off from 3,361 companies in phase one and 20,528 workers from 3,421 companies in phase two.
There were also 172,222 workers from 16,198 companies put on unpaid forced leave in phase one and 100,111 workers from 16,684 companies in phase two.
"The data will be improved by the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs shortly," he said.
Andri said employees who had been laid off or put on unpaid forced leave should verify their data at the prakerja.go.id page immediately.
They will need to register on the site and verify their identification number (NIK) and e-mail, fill in their personal data, then take motivation and basic ability tests to receive a pre-employment card which the government has prepared for 5.6 million workers in 2020.
The government has selected as many as 200,000 participants for the first wave of the pre-employment card program.
They are now able to receive incentives and join online training programs provided by eight digital platforms: Tokopedia, Skill Academy by Ruangguru, Maubelajarapa, Bukalapak, Pintaria, Sekolahmu, Pijarmahir and Sisnaker.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said pre-employment cardholders have the choice of joining 2,000 different training programs to suit their interests.
Offline or face-to-face training would be available only after the large-scale social restrictions have been lifted.
"We have 2,000 online training programs from 198 training institutions working in unison with the eight digital platforms," Airlangga said.
Airlangga said the pre-employment card is the first public service program to use an end-to-end online system, from registration to training and payment of incentives.
Program participants can choose to have their incentives transferred to a bank account or e-wallets such as LinkAja, OVO and GoPay.
Presidential Staff Office Head General (ret.) Moeldoko said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had wanted the pre-employment card program to be carried out in partnership with existing digital platforms and private training institutions.
According to Moeldoko, the pre-employment card program is designed to upgrade workers' knowledge or teach them new skills but does not guarantee a job.
"The task of the government is to encourage people to get a job or become entrepreneurs, but we can't guarantee employment," Moeldoko said.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/more-than-300000-workers-eligible-for-unemployment-benefits-in-jakarta