Government Continues Pre-Employment Card Program in 2023

VIVA – Government continues the Pre-Employment Card program in 2023. This program will focus more on assistance to increase the skills and productivity of the workforce such as in the form of direct training costs assistance and post-training incentives.

This was conveyed by the coordinating minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto in a virtual press statement, on Thursday, January 5, 2023.

"The Pre-Employment Card Program is continued in 2023 with a normal scheme. The scheme is no longer semi-social assistance but a normal scheme, which is regulated in Presidential Regulation Number 113 of 2022 and its implementation by the coordinating minister for Economic Affairs Regulation 17/2022," Minister Airlangga said.

Airlangga said that in the initial stage, a budget of IDR 2.67 trillion was allocated to achieve the target of 595 thousand people. As for the remaining target of 405 thousand people, the government will propose an additional budget requirement of IDR 1.7 trillion.

Several adjustments were made in line with the implementation of the Pre-Employment Card Program with this normal scheme. One is the implementation of training that is carried out offline, online, and hybrid.

Meanwhile, offline training will begin in ten provinces, namely DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua, minister Airlangga stated.

The amount of assistance that participants will receive has also been adjusted to IDR 4.2 million per individual, with details in the form of training cost assistance of IDR 3.5 million, and post-training incentives of IDR 600 thousand given once.

Also, survey incentives of IDR 100 thousand for two survey completions. In addition, the government also increased the minimum training duration to 15 hours.

Minister Airlangga emphasized that recipients of social assistance from other ministries/institutions, such as Wage Subsidy Assistance (BSU), Micro Business Actor Assistance (BPUM), and the Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) are allowed to become participants in the Pre-Employment Card, which focuses on improving work competencies.

"Due to it is no longer semi-social assistance, recipients of assistance such as (Wage Subsidy Assistance), BPUM, and PKH can become participants in the Pre-Employment Card because it is for retraining and reskilling, not social assistance anymore," Airlangga Hartarto remarked.

The government hopes that various training institutions can participate in becoming part of the Pre-Employment ecosystem by taking part in several assessments and selections that have been determined.