Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Ida Fauziyah and Minister of Social Affairs (Menos) Juliari P. Batubara distributed social assistance (bansos) to workers laid off or compelled to take unpaid leave owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social assistance, comprising 23 thousand basic food and rice packages, will be handed out to laid-off workers or those left with no choice but to take unpaid leave in Greater Jakarta.
The social assistance was distributed on the basis of data verified by the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker).
"The principle is that the government is mindful of the plight of fellow workers encumbered by the pandemic. The government’s actions are expected to lower their burden," Fauziyah stated before symbolically distributing social assistance packages to 13 representatives of labor unions at the Ministry of Manpower, Jakarta, on Wednesday.
Minister Fauziyah conceded to being fully aware of the several burdens afflicting workers and laborers affected by the pandemic that hit Indonesia.
To this end, the minister highlighted the government's commitment to channel greater attention and priority for the continued fulfillment of basic needs and boosting the people's purchasing power.
A similar commitment was echoed by Social Affairs Minister Juliari P. Batubara, who made assurance that the social assistance would not be misallocated since it was based on the manpower ministry’s verified data.
Batubara also spoke of having opened up opportunities to extend greater social assistance to laid-off workers.
According to the Ministry of Manpower's data, verified as of May 27, 2020, a total of 1,058,284 formal sector workers were compelled to take unpaid leave, while 380,221 formal sector workers had been laid off.
In the meantime, 318,959 workers in the informal sector were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby bringing the total number of workers laid off and forced to take unpaid leave to 1,757,464.
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