TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Thursday, August 27, 2020, has officially launched the employee's wage subsidy program at the State Palace in Central Jakarta. Jokowi explained that employees eligible for the program are those who routinely pay their BPJS Kesehatan (state-health insurance) premiums.

"Those who are granted this subsidy are employees working for companies who routinely pay their work insurance premiums [BPJS Ketenagakerjaan]. This means that we are rewarding them who complied with the rules," said the President.

Eligible employees will receive a total of IDR 2.4 million within a period of four months. This means that each month, employees subject to the program are entitled to receive IDR 600,000 each month over the course of the program.

For the first phase of the program, the government will disburse financial aid for 2.5 million eligible workers. Each worker will receive a lump sum payment of IDR 1.2 million which constitutes the amount of benefits for the first two months of the financial aid program.

"We hoped in September will be [disbursed] completely for 15.7 million employees," said Jokowi. "We hope people's purchasing power will improve, which will help elevate the country's economy to the normal level," Jokowi added.

This wage subsidy will also be given to workers in multiple sectors starting from honorary workers in the field of education, firefighters, hotel employees, medical workers or nurses, and public maintenance workers, among others.

EGI ADYATAMA