Manpower ministry vows to drop various levies

Manpower ministry vows to drop various levies

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Manpower plans to phase out
various levies it has been imposing on companies in the hope of
allowing them to pay their workers more as well as making them
more competitive.

Yudo Swasono, the head of the ministry's Planning and
Development Agency, told reporters in his office yesterday that
the ministry currently charges no less than 37 different levies
in connection with workers' safety and health.

These various levies are responsible for preventing numerous
companies from paying their employees better wages, he said as
reported by Antara.

The ministry's own survey of companies in the country found
that between 5 and 30 percent of their production costs go
towards paying various official levies and bribes.

The ministry is now studying ways to phase out some of these
levies and keep them down to a minimum, Yudo said, adding "We
hope other government agencies will follow suit."

He said many companies have complained in recent years about
their difficulties in keeping up with hikes in the officially-set
minimum wage chiefly because of the various levies, both official
and illegal.

He also pointed out that the minimum wage levels which were
set by the government have barely kept up with inflation. "With
the exception of 1988, workers' wages have not increased
significantly in the past few years," he said.

This, he added, is not good for either workers, companies and
the government, because workers' productivity will stay low as
long as their minimum basic requirements are not met.

Yudo also stressed that the government has every intention to
raise workers' productivity to make the country competitive in
the region as well as in world markets. (emb)