Minister of Manpower: Expansion of Social Security Must Reach Informal Workers
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Yassierli has stressed that the expansion of social security must be able to reach workers in the informal sector, including domestic workers, online motorcycle drivers, couriers, as well as workers in fisheries and plantations.
In his statement in Jakarta on Friday, Menaker Yassierli said that social protection is the right of every worker and must be accessible without exception.
“Our main spirit is that every citizen has the right to decent work and livelihood. This forms the basis of every policy,” Yassierli stated.
Furthermore, he conveyed that the current challenge is to ensure that informal sector workers can enter the social security scheme, which has so far been more utilised by formal workers.
To that end, he continued, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker) is also pushing for the strengthening of regulations for workers in the digital economy sector and other vulnerable groups so that they receive social security protection as part of the employer’s responsibility.
In addition, domestic workers are also being encouraged to enter the national social security system through strengthened regulations, so that they are recognised as workers and obtain protection rights.
“BPJS Ketenagakerjaan is not just an insurance institution. Its main focus is to expand participation and provide maximum benefits for workers,” said the Minister.
Yassierli, who is also a Professor at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), also invited all stakeholders to strengthen data integration as the basis for more targeted policy formulation.
Integrated data is also important, he said, to anticipate risks of work accidents, occupational diseases, as well as to maintain the sustainability of social security funds in the future.
Meanwhile, the President Director of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, Syaiful Hidayat, added that all workers, both formal and informal, are a priority for receiving protection.
“Let us build together so that worker protection is no longer seen as just an obligation,” said Syaiful.