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Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has said the job creation law would help create quality employment for 29.12 million unemployed people in Indonesia.

"This is a game-changer for medium to long term that will create quality jobs. The law will reduce the negative impact on the occurrence of people losing their jobs," he remarked at an online discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Not only that, Hartarto said, the job creation law would also improve the business climate and encourage the recovery of MSMEs and corporations so they can serve as a safety net after the pandemic is over.

The clusters in the job creation law are also expected to encourage increased investment and competitiveness as well as provide protection to workers, he added.

He said the job creation law has been welcomed by various international institutions which are considering the law a major reform that has made Indonesia more competitive in the international market.

"The job creation law is expected to simplify the licensing process, reduce costs, provide legal certainty in export and import activities, and increase investment," Hartarto observed.

He said that even though the government has completed the derivative regulations of the job creation law, it is still providing the widest possible space for the public to provide inputs and suggestions on its implementation.

"The government will form an aspiration team that will work in the next two months,” the minister informed.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) recently signed the Job Creation Bill, officially making it Law Number 11 of 2020 on Job Creation.

Law No. 11 of 2020 was signed on Monday, November 2, 2020, with State Gazette number (LN) 245 and State Gazette Supplement number (TLN) 6673, the State Secretariat noted on its official website setneg.go.id.

The Job Creation Law spans 1,187 pages, according to Minister of State Secretariat, Pratikno.

The country's first omnibus law covers policies on improvement of the investment ecosystem and business activities; employment; protection and empowerment of cooperatives and MSMEs; ease of doing business; national fiscal policy; and, research and innovation support, among other things.

Jokowi proposed the Job Creation Bill after being re-elected as Indonesia's president for the 2019-2024 term. At his swearing-in ceremony on October 20, 2019, Jokowi had urged the Parliament to complete deliberations on the omnibus law within 100 days.

The government completed the draft omnibus bill on February 12, 2020, and the Parliament began discussing it on April 2, 2020. On October 5, 2020, the House of Representatives (DPR) endorsed the proposed legislation. (Antaranews)