VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian government is committed to continuing the Pre-Employment Card program which has been running for eleven batches in 2020. The registration for batch 12 was opened on Tuesday (23/2/2021). For the implementation this year, a budget of Rp 20 trillion has been prepared. This doubled the initial amount in the 2021 State budget which was worth Rp10 trillion. The Pre- Employment Card Program was opened for the first time on April 11, 2020. The government is targeting the number of participants who take part in the program to be 5.6 million people.

Initially, the government planned to provide an offline training for the program participants. They would receive free facilities and pocket money during the training. However, the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything. The government then used this program to become one of the social aids for the community, especially the victims of layoffs who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scheme and budget amount automatically changed. Part of the training cost budget was diverted for incentives to the participants in a larger amount than originally planned. Thus, the budget for the Pre-employment Card program has increased sharply.

After a year running, of course, there are points that need attention and to be improved regarding this program, starting from the matter of appointing training partners who were considered not transparent to the training materials that some said were too simple. However, as one of the economic recovery programs from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pre- Employment Card program, of course, has its own benefits. The government says those who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic will be targets of the Pre-Employment Card program. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many have enjoyed the benefits of this program. Unfortunately, the selection of the participants proved to be often inaccurate, so that many were not on target. Those who still have jobs managed to get assistance. While many of the unemployed have not been reached by this program.

It is hoped that this year, the Pre-Employment Card program can run with improvements so that it can be maximized and right on target. Thereby, there needs to be joint monitoring from the community.