We will raise the budget by Rp10 trillion to Rp30 trillion so the number of pre-employment program participants will increase by 2.8 millionJakarta (ANTARA) - The government is set to raise the budget for the pre-employment card program by Rp10 trillion to Rp30 trillion from Rp20 trillion earlier to help alleviate the financial burden of the people during the enforcement of emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM).
"We will raise the budget by Rp10 trillion to Rp30 trillion so the number of pre-employment program participants will increase by 2.8 million," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in an online press conference on Saturday night.
The government has originally set aside the budget for the pre-employment card program at Rp20 trillion to cover 5.5 million participants. With an additional Rp10 trillion budget, the number of participants will rise 2.8 million to 8.4 million, she said.
The decision to raise the budget for the program is based on the survey which suggested that the program proved effective to help job seekers and laid-off workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
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Under the additional pre-employment card program, each recipient will get training aid of Rp1 million and incentive of Rp600 thousand per month for four months. In total, each recipient will get Rp2.4 million per month plus Rp50 thousand for participating in the survey.
The rise in the budget for pre-employment card program is part of the additional social assistance of Rp39.9 trillion to help alleviate the financial burden of the people during the emergency public activity restriction (PPKM) aimed at curbing an exponential spike in COVID-19 cases due to the spread of more infectious delta variant of coronavirus.
The government will soon evaluate the emergency PPKM for Java and Bali which will end on July 20, 2021.
The government is expected to announce whether or not to extend the emergency PPKM in two to three days by taking into account several factors including a daily rise in COVID-19 cases and bed occupancy rate at hospitals.
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Translator: Indra Arief P, Suharto
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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