God willing, a schedule will be in place for tomorrow, Thursday, August 27, 2020, for the launch of government assistance in the form of salary or wage subsidy by the president of the Republic of Indonesia
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Wage subsidy assistance for workers, with income below Rp5 million, will be launched on Thursday (Aug 27) by President Joko Widodo, according to Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah.

"God willing, a schedule will be in place for tomorrow, Thursday, August 27, 2020, for the launch of government assistance in the form of salary or wage subsidy by the president of the Republic of Indonesia," Fauziyah remarked during a hearing with Commission IX of the Indonesian Parliament in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

According to Fauziyah, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker) is currently preparing the administration for the first-stage transfer of assistance after earlier obtaining 2.5 million validated recipient data from the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan).

The government had earlier planned to provide wage subsidies to 15.7 million private workers and non-civil servants, with income below Rp5 million. The recipients must be registered as members of the BPJS Ketenagakerjaan as of June 2020.

Prospective recipients will obtain monthly assistance of Rp600 thousand for four months, or Rp2.4 million in total. The assistance will be sent directly to the account of the prospective recipient.

BPJS Ketenagakerjaan has, until now, gathered data on the accounts of 13.8 million potential beneficiaries for validation in stages to ensure that the assistance is right on target.

As planned, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, on a weekly basis, will submit at least 2.5 million data on potential recipients to the Ministry of Manpower, which will then conduct further data conformity checks.

The minister is upbeat about this assistance being able to help workers whose incomes got impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program complements other social safety net programs implemented by the government to deal with the impact of the pandemic, such as social assistance by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Pre-Employment Card.

"It is expected to help our fellow workers that have had a tremendous impact these days," the minister remarked.
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Translator: Prisca T, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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