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Calls mount for Govt to expand wage subsidy scheme
Business associations and trade unions support the Ombudsman's proposal to include informal workers in the scheme.
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A man transports vegetables he bought at the wholesale market on his motorbike in Jakarta on April 13. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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usinesses and trade unions have backed the Indonesian Ombudsman's call for the government to expand its wage subsidy program (BSU) by including informal workers, to better shield the workforce from high inflation.
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Indonesian Workers Union Association (Aspek) said on Monday they supported the Ombudsman's proposal that the government included specific categories of informal workers such as online motorcycle taxi drivers (ojol), automotive repair workers and small-shops owners.
Manpower Ministerial Regulation (Permenaker) No. 21/2021, the law that regulates the BSU, dictates that recipients should be registered with the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) and have a maximum monthly wage of Rp 3.5 million (US$241).
Indonesian Ombudsman member Robert Na Endi Jaweng said that many informal workers were not BPJS Ketenagakerjaan members, despite being in the same economic class as their formal counterparts.
"There is a real inequality here between those included in BPJS Ketenagakerjaan and those who are not, when in fact they are actually suffering the same due to poor economic conditions," Robert said during a press briefing on Friday.
The wage subsidy aims to provide a buttress for workers in staving off the imminent threat of inflation, as the war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a drastic spike in global commodity prices. Inflation rose to a nearly two-year high of 2.64 percent in March due to the spike.
Read also: Indonesia braces for high inflation
