ER
MINISTER of Tourism and Creative Economy, Wishnutama Kusubandio in his statement in Jakarta, Friday (1/5) said the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy will ensure that workers in the tourism sector including restaurants and hospitality can access and prioritize programs labor protection.
“Tourism is the most important sector affected by COVID-19. In a limited meeting chaired by President Jokowi on manpower, it was reported that the main sectors affected by COVID-19 were tourism, restaurants, public facilities, transportation, retail, the impact was more than 40%. Even restaurants and tourism are around 70%,” Wishnutama said.
Regarding the regions, he added the regions with the worst impacts were tourism such as in Bali, Riau Islands and North Sulawesi. Likewise, Jakarta which implemented the Large-Scale Social Restrictions was also quite affected.
“In terms of manpower including tourism human resources in it, the number of workers laid off reaches more than one million, then those terminated at work (PHK) 375,000 so that the total laid off reaches 1.4 million workers. Then there were 314,833 informal workers, bringing the total to 1.7 million in total,” he noted.
Therefore, Wishnutama ensures that the Ministry of Tourism will coordinate with relevant ministries/institutions especially the Ministry of Manpower in order to prioritize tourism workers getting assistance from government programs including pre-employment cards.
“Through coordination and synergy between Ministries/Institutions, later the lay-off workers will be included in the Pre-Work Card Program, gradually surging within the next 4-5 weeks,” Wishnutama said.
He added, previously, six steps would be applied to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 for workers including those engaged in the tourism sector. The first step is to prevent the spread of layoffs and ensure that the economic stimulus program that has been decided is implemented immediately.
The second step, continued Wishnutama, for workers in the formal sector where there are 56 million workers, it is certain that the scheme of the program that alleviates their burden includes tax incentives and relaxation of Social Security Administrator Body (BPJS) contributions. The third step, workers in the informal sector are included in the social safety net program. The fourth thing, laid off workers or victims of layoffs, prioritized to get a pre-employment card.
“And the fifth step is for the Ministries/Institutions to increase cash-intensive programs, resulting in greater employment. And the sixth step is to provide protection to migrant workers both those who have returned home and those who are still abroad,” he concluded. [traveltext.id]
