National

Law No. 1 of 2020 on Job Creation (Job Creation Law) states that the Unemployment Benefit (JKP) has the objective of easing the burden of laid-off workers in landing a new job and maintaining their standard of living. One of the benefits JKP offers is access to labor market information (IPK), namely the Karirhub-Sistem Informasi Ketenagakerjaan1 (Karirhub-Sisnaker), which is the national job platform provided by the Ministry of Labor. To support optimal implementation of JKP, the Ministry of Labor needs to make Karirhub-Sisnaker inclusive.

Young people dominate the unemployed population in Indonesia: three quarters of unemployed people were youth in 2019 and the level of youth unemployment increased from 13.03 percent to 15.23 percent between August 2019 and August 2020. At the same time, with the country’s demographic dividend and a high volume of public consumption, youth entrepreneurship in Indonesia has the potential to mitigate youth unemployment, build robust and inclusive economic growth and contribute to sustainable development.

The economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an impact on the employment situation in Indonesia. There are at least two implications of the crisis on the employment sector: (i) an increase in unemployment rate and (ii) changes in the landscape of the labor market.

In late 2019, we—the SMERU management and staff—finalized the SMERU Strategic Plan 2020–2024. The strategic plan aims to increase SMERU’s relevance and improve the institute’s financial sustainability. With our focus still on quality research to contribute to the formulation of pro-poor socioeconomic policies, SMERU intends to expand its reach to regional governments and nongovernmental stakeholders— especially the private sector.