TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of unemployed people in Indonesia has risen by 2.6 million to reach 9.7 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has said.

“Based on BPS (Central Statistics Agency) data, the number of unemployed people stood at 9.7 million nationwide. This means that the figure increased by 2.6 million,” she said while visiting the job training center in the Aceh provincial capital of Banda Aceh on Monday.

The minister said Indonesia had managed to limit the number of unemployed to nearly 7 million before the COVID-19 pandemic. The figure rose to 9.77 million amid the spread of COVID-19, she added.

Because of the pandemic, many Indonesian workers who were previously employed in the formal sector are currently working in the informal sector, she informed.

To that end, the government has made mitigation efforts, ranging from encouraging the continuation of businesses to providing incentives to them, she said.

"We have distributed subsidies among workers participating in the BPJAMSOSTEK (worker social security agency) program. Nearly 98 percent of the targeted 12.4 million workers have been covered," she said.

In addition, the government has also launched a pre-employment card program, a productive labor-intensive program, and expanded job opportunities through entrepreneurship training, she said.

“The government has done them all to ensure that COVID-19 affected workers will survive during this pandemic,” she remarked.

Also Read: 4 Ways to Get a Job amid Covid-19 Pandemic

ANTARA