Govt introduces labor-intensive public projects
JAKARTA (JP): The government has created temporary jobs for 3.9 million people who have lost their jobs due to the monetary crisis.
The government launched yesterday a Rp 33 billion (US$4 million) labor-intensive public works project in 30 mayoralties and regencies in Jakarta, and in West, Central and East Java.
The program will run for the next 80 days and end after the presidential election in March, according to Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.
About 90 percent of the funds, derived from the State Budget, will go toward workers' wages, said Latief in a media briefing. He was accompanied by Deputy Chairman of the National Development Planning Board Rahadi Ramelan and the Ministry of Manpower's secretary-general Suwarto.
The program was "initiated to provide works and income mostly for (construction and agricultural) workers who have lost their jobs due to the recent crisis," Latief said.
After March, the project will continue as a regular program starting at the beginning of the 1998/1999 budget year in April, he said.
"The measure is directed by President Soeharto who is very responsive to (the plight) of common people," Latief said.
The program is called A Project for the Handling of Labor Problems caused by the Economic Crisis and Drought. The government first mentioned the plan to establish labor intensive projects last month amid the onslaught of the economic crisis pressure made worse by the long dry season.
Inflation has been on the rise, food prices were set to surge higher due to the depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, and massive layoffs began.
The projects included city canal dredging to anticipate the imminent threat of floods, the cleaning-up of markets, and the renovation of village roads.
In Jakarta, as many as 507,200 people could be employed in the project, or 6,340 workers per day, Latief said. In other regions, an estimated 3,416,800 people could be employed, or 42,710 workers per day.
"This means the project will absorb as many as 3.9 million people for the next 80 days," he said.
"Each worker will get a maximum of Rp 7,500 (90 U.S. cents), which is higher than our regional minimum daily wage for workers."
The minimum wage differs from one area of the country to another. The minimum monthly wage in Greater Jakarta for 1997/1998 is Rp 172,000. The highest minimum level paid is for those working in the industrial-designated zone of Batam, Riau, at Rp 220,500. Yogyakarta still has the lowest minimum wage level at Rp 106,500.
Records from the Ministry of Manpower show that if the economy this year grows by 3.5 percent, only 1.3 million new job opportunities will be created for the expected 2.7 million entering the job market.
About 1.4 million new job seekers will be unable to find employment, pushing the number of unemployed in the country this year to 5.8 million people. By the end of 1997, the number of unemployed already stood at 4.4 million, according to the records.
In Yogyakarta, the local branch of the Legal Aid Institute has promised to provide a free-of-charge service to help workers dismissed by their companies in the monetary crisis.
"We will give the monetary crisis related cases priority," Yogyakarta Legal Aid public relations manager Budi Hartono said in a statement yesterday.
According to Budi Hartono, the decision was also made in response to the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's (YLBHI) call that each branch should form a special post for complaints on massive layoffs.
"Our post is open 24 hours," the statement said. (aan/swa)