The government officially launched the Pre-Employment Card program on Friday (20/3). However, application will not be open for public until early April 2020. In response to this, Member of Commission IX (health, labour, population), Muhammad Dhevy Bijak, asked the government to organize massive dissemination programs for the public.

“In order for people to take full advantage of the Pre-Employment Cards, the government must conduct massive dissemination of the program,” said the Democrat Party politician through a press release received by Parlementaria on Saturday (21/3).

The South Sulawesi electorate politician also encouraged people to access the official website ‘prakerja.kemnaker.go.id’ for related information on the Pre-Employment Card program. Bijak underlined the importance of online access for this information considering the current situation. In a separate press conference on the preliminary launch of the Pre-Employment Cards, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, said“Pre-Employment training is available both online and offline (in person). Additionally, there is also a three-in-one training program, which includes training, certification, and job placement”.

In its preliminary implementation, the offline training was held in four regions: Riau Islands, Bali, North Sulawesi, and Surabaya. The online platform would soon be available nation-wide.

Hartarto shared that out of the approximately 7 million unemployed citizens, 3.7 million are in the 18-24 age group. As many as 64% of this young, unemployed population live in urban areas, while 78% are at least high school graduates. The biggest problem, according to Hartarto, is that 90% of these people do not have training certifications.

For this reason, the Pre-Employment Cards will be prioritized for young job seekers. Eligibility for the program will require a minimum age of 18 years for Indonesian nationals who are not currently in school.