As the Social Protection Program Manager at the International Labour Organization’s Country Office for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, I recently presented an analysis of the pressing need for pension reform in Indonesia. The country faces rapid demographic changes and inadequate pension coverage, and our analysis aims to provide crucial insights into the challenges ahead and potential solutions.
We held a technical meeting on August 20 with Indonesian trade unions on pension reforms, and listened and discussed the Indonesian Government’s proposal.
The decline in Indonesia’s middle class is particularly concerning given the government’s long-term development plans, which focus on expanding this demographic to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. The middle class is central to the government’s strategy.
I visited one of the BPJS Employment (BPJS-TK) offices to learn about the implementation of social insurance programmes in Indonesia. BPJS-TK has different offices with various functions. This office is the first-class office, which is the largest branch office after the head office.
In recent years, Indonesia has made significant strides in reforming its social security system, with a focus on enhancing protection for workers and their families. The Government of Indonesia (GoI) has introduced a series of policy measures aimed at addressing key challenges in the areas of unemployment protection, old-age income security, and maternity benefits.
Bluebird Taxi is the biggest, most trusted and most famous taxi company in Jakarta. With millions of Bluebird Taxi on the road, it is impossible to avoid them and every foreigner visiting Jakarta is bound to take a Bluebird at least once. For expats stationed in Jakarta, Bluebird has become an everyday vehicle, and we always take a taxi for a short trip around the city.
Labour and Social Security Attorneys, known in Japan as “Sharoushi,” function independently, akin to solicitors, under the supervision of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Their expertise lies in social insurance and labour issues. Japan has a community of 45,000 Sharoushi, and an annual national examination is conducted to recruit new members to this profession. This examination has a notoriously low pass rate of around 5%, marking it as one of the most challenging exams in the country.
Multiple shocks of COVID-19, the military takeover and a surging global price of food, oil and other commodities have significantly hit the lives of Myanmar people since 2020.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) argues that the poorest countries can afford to finance social protection, and there are eight options to create fiscal space.
“In middle-income countries, it may be that growth has lifted all the poor out of poverty who can be lifted; for the rest, social policy will be needed (Raj M. Desai 2015).”
