Tadjudin Nur Effendi, an expert on labor issues from Gajdah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the ongoing transition toward the so-called new normal, with regional administrations easing coronavirus restrictions, had yet to create new jobs.

“I do not think that [people getting back their job] has taken place, because demand in the labor market is still low,” Tadjudin told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview on Tuesday.

The comments come as around 400,000 people or 60 percent of preemployment card recipients have completed their first training, according to Panji Ruky, the director of communication, partnership and ecosystem development for the preemployment card program.

With many nonessential businesses shutting factories, the coronavirus restrictions have forced more than 1.7 million people out of work as of May 1, according to data from the Manpower Ministry. More than half of them were formal-sector workers furloughed by their employers.

In line with the ministry’s report, a survey on the program’s eligible recipients by the National Team for Accelerating Poverty Alleviation (TNP2K) found that 80.8 percent of the respondents were unemployed in May.

In January, only 37.6 percent of them told the survey they were unemployed, which suggests that they lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

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