Employment problems that have arisen due to the Covid-19 pandemic include workers being laid off, working from home, paying wages, and being laid off.
The Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet, all countries in the world including Indonesia are still struggling to deal with this global outbreak. Almost all sectors are affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, from health, social, economic, including in the sustainability of the business world and employment.
Employment Law Practitioner Juanda Pangaribuan said there were at least 4 employment problems that arose due to Covid-19. First, during the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) some companies are not allowed to operate. As a result, there are companies that decide to lay off workers or order workers to work from home (WFH).
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered one of the worst jobs crises since the Great Depression. There is a real danger that the crisis will increase poverty and widen inequalities, with the impact felt for years to come. Countries now need to do everything they can to stop this jobs crisis from turning into a social crisis. Reconstructing a better and more resilient labour market is an essential investment in the future and in future generations.
The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming how we think about our economies and our societies. The policy choices governments make today will determine their success in building a transition to a greener, more inclusive and more resilient tomorrow. It is an opportunity to chart a path that empowers everyone to face the future with confidence.
The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments in Asia and the Pacific region to implement large-scale regional lockdowns and social restrictions. As a consequence, these policies cause economic and social activities to be disrupted which in turn is transmitted to disturbances to the economy as a whole including disruptions in the labor market and a decrease in the level of workers' incomes throughout the region. Disruption to economic activity due to regional lockdown policies to contain the spread of the virus has caused many companies to close their businesses and go bankrupt, which resulted in a reduction in the number of workers and massive layoffs, especially in the sectors most affected by the pandemic.
A number of companies make various policies to maintain their business. Starting from not doing production, temporarily closing their business, even laying off some employees because of cash flow difficulties. If every company has the ability to survive the current situation of each. However, the survival of the company also has its limits. Given the current declining public consumption power. The main factor in the problem of the emergence of many layoffs could be from the current decline in public consumption of goods produced by these companies. Which then affects the company's income. The government's efforts to deal with the impact of the pandemic on layoffs through the government's pre-employment card program can be right on target. In addition, the assistance of basic food packages from the government can maintain the purchasing power or consumptive power of the community. Economic growth plummets, the potential for layoffs increases. It is possible that layoffs have the potential to increase the crime rate due to economic pressure. The Indonesian Trade Union Association has asked the government to prevent serious layoffs (PHK) in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mass layoffs are also not a humane decision for now. Entrepreneurs are not whiny as if all the company profits that they have been able to participate in have disappeared due to Covid-19. So far, entrepreneurs have received a lot of stimulus during the era of President Jokowi's administration. In addition to mass layoffs, several companies offer their employees to take unpaid leave or be laid off. This is done to keep the company afloat.
Throughout 2020, the number of workers in countries in the Asia and Pacific region experienced a decline. In aggregate, the total number of workers in the Asia and Pacific region in 2020 is 1.8 billion people. This number decreased by 3.2 percent (yoy) compared to 2019 or experienced a decrease in the number of workers by 61.8 million workers. India is the country that experienced the largest decline in the number of workers with 30.4 million workers in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on increasing unemployment rates in the region. The largest contribution to the increase in unemployment in the Asia and Pacific region came mainly from the informal worker group, which consists of millions of low-skilled and low-paid workers. The Asia and Pacific region is home to 1.3 billion of the world's 2 billion informal workers. Throughout 2020, the unemployment rate in the region increased to 5.2 percent, up 18 percent compared to 2019 with the number of unemployed reaching 101.1 million people. The largest unemployment rate occurred in the United States, reaching 8.3 percent in 2020. The regional lockdown policy and the closure of the business sector were the main causes of a fairly high increase in the unemployment rate in the US, in addition to the policy of providing unemployment benefits by the US government.
The policy of regional locking and social restrictions followed by provisions for reducing business operating hours has resulted in the loss of employee working hours and the number of jobs. During 2020, the ILO estimated that 7.9 per cent of work hours were lost in Asia and the Pacific, equivalent to 140 million full-time equivalent jobs (based on a 48-hour work week). The characteristics of the labor market in each country affect how much the loss of working hours and the number of jobs lost during the pandemic are affected. Losses in lost hours and the largest number of jobs occurred in India, mainly contributed by cross-sectoral and highly skilled jobs, including service, manufacturing and industrial, as well as office work. Based on the type of work, the non-agricultural sector experienced the largest loss of workers throughout 2020. The US was the country that experienced the most loss of workers in both the non-agricultural sector and the service sector. While in the industrial sector, although the pandemic has caused the loss of the number of workers, the sector is still the pillar of the economy in most countries. Loss of workers in the industrial sector is relatively smaller than in other sectors. In terms of growth in the number of workers, the impact of COVID-19 was relatively small in the agricultural sector which was still growing positively, while other sectors (non-agriculture, industry, and services) experienced contraction. South Korea contributed to the positive growth in the number of workers in the agricultural sector throughout 2020. Meanwhile in Australia, although it had contracted in Q1-2020, throughout the last three quarters of 2020 there was positive growth in the number of workers. Countries in the Asia and Pacific region have made various efforts to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and labor market. Developed countries in the region with large fiscal capacity are allocating more budgets for policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the 12 countries analyzed, the largest fiscal policy package was issued by the US government. While the smallest expenditure for financing the COVID-19 stimulus package was issued by Viet Nam. In high-income economies such as Australia, the US, Singapore, and Japan, the allocation of fiscal stimulus exceeds 25 percent of total GDP. Japan is the country with the highest total share of stimulus assistance reaching 68.8 percent of GDP. In contrast, for developing countries such as the Philippines and Viet Nam, the allocation of the COVID-19 stimulus package is less than 15 percent of GDP to support economic recovery.
