Denpasar – It is estimated that economic disruption will result in the loss of between 45-50 million jobs in Indonesia in the near future.
This was revealed by National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chief Bambang PS Brodjonegoro when quoting from the results of research by the international consulting group McKinsey.
According to Brodjonegoro, this situation will wipe out any gains from the momentum of economic growth arising out the demographic bonus.
“The demographic bonus will be lost by economic disruption because many jobs will be lost and replaced by robots and artificial intelligence”, he said at a seminar organised by the Labour Social Security Management Agency (BPJS) on Tuesday February 6.
Brodjonegoro explained that economic disruption will give rise to new inequalities as a consequence of these job losses. People who work in sectors that are dependent on technology will be the group that is most vulnerable.
“Certainly this is disappointing. On the other hand however, economic disruption will also give rise to new opportunities. There will be new jobs created by this situation. This is what the government must pay attention to”, he said.
In relation to this, Bappenas must endeavor to improve the quality of human resources so that this economic disruption can be used as a momentum to take advantage of these new opportunities.
Joachim Breuer, the president director of the International Social Security Association, took the opportunity to say that economic disruption will also impact upon pension fund institutions. Economic disruption will create uncertainty for employee relations and job providers.
The presence of individual employees will result in pension fund institutions such as BPJS Labour having to define a new status for these employees. “Because of this there needs to be a redefinition of how social security should be for these employees”, he said.
The international seminar was attended by 125 people from the social security sector from 30 different countries. Also present were 360 social security practitioners from Indonesia.
During the event a strategic cooperation agreement was signed between BPJS Labour and the German Social Accident Insurance Institute (DGUV) on healthcare, workers’ safety and social security.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Sekitar 50 Juta Pekerjaan di Indonesia Akan Hilang dalam Beberapa Waktu ke Depan.]
