The regulation mandates the establishment of a job creation committee responsible for formulating the program’s policies, as well as program management and evaluation.

As one of the government’s programs that aim to develop “superior human resources”, the preemployment card has created a “marketplace” where training participants and providers meet. The program has targeted 2 million participants and allocated a budget of Rp 10 trillion (US$637.27 million) for 2020. All Indonesians aged 18 years and above who are jobless or still studying may apply to the program, which requires all applicants to pass its selection process.

Each successful participant receives a training voucher worth Rp 5 million that can be used to attend the program’s training offerings, which are facilitated by the program’s digital partners. Upon completing a training course, each participant will receive a monthly allowance of Rp 650,000 for four months as an incentive. Finally, the program provides a job portal to match newly trained participants with industries.

The preemployment card program is indeed relevant to the present condition and future challenges of Indonesia’s labor market. The country’s unemployment rate in 2019 looks relatively OK at around 5.28 percent, or 7 million people. However, the figure does not fully reflect local labor conditions.

Special attention should be paid to the high unemployment rate among graduates, the mismatch between available jobs and job seekers, and the high youth unemployment rate.

The International Labor Organization data shows that Indonesia has one of the highest numbers of young people not in education, employment or training in Southeast Asia, at 22 percent of the youth population (ages 15 to 24).

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