JAKARTA (ILO News): In Indonesia, informal economy workers and employees without contracts are largely uncovered by social security benefits. It is estimated that 54 per cent of the total population does not have access to social health protection (most of the excluded are workers in the informal economy and their families) and 83 per cent of workers do not have access to other social security benefits (old age, death, work injury).

The extension of social insurance and health insurance to informal economy workers above the poverty line is challenging. However, the extension of social protection cannot be achieved without strong commitment and willingness from national and local governments. In the absence of an adequate social protection floor in place, people who manage to get out of poverty face the risk of falling again into poverty.

The social protection floor promotes income security through a basic set of guarantees including: (i) all residents have access to a nationally/provincially defined set of affordable essential health care services; (ii) all children enjoy income security through transfers in kind or in cash ensuring access to nutrition, education and care; (iii) all those in active age groups who cannot (or should not, in case of pregnancy) earn a sufficient income enjoy a minimum income security through social transfers in cash or in kind or employment guaranteed schemes ; and (iv) all residents in old age and with disabilities have income security at least at the level of the nationally defined poverty line through pensions for old age and disability or transfers in kind. It can also be used to describe existing schemes in place for each of the four basic guarantees mentioned above and identify the policy gaps and implementation issues if any.

To monitor and assess progress towards the social protection floor in the country, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will conduct a Validation Workshop of the Social Protection Assessment on Thursday, 4 August, at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel, Jakarta. The workshop will be opened by Peter van Rooij, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia.

The validation workshop is conducted as the immediate follow-up to a training on a social protection floor rapid assessment, design and costing which was held in November 2010 in Bangkok. During the training, provincial Governments of East Java, Nusa Tenggara Timur and Maluku, together with PT Jamsostek, had prepared a roadmap for the implementation of the social protection floor at the national and provincial level, including a stocktaking and analysis of the situation and the conduct of a comprehensive national rapid assessment of the existing social protection floor.

The aim of the workshop is to review the final assessment report and matrix, which was developed to examine the current situation and to provide main recommendations, to share the costing methodology and the results of the costing. The workshop also provides a tripartite forum for dialogue to point the way forward in terms of future policy implications in defining the social protection floor for national constituents.

The recommendations are translated into various scenarios of extension of coverage and/or benefits:

• A gradual universal coverage for health would cost between 1 to 2 per cent of GDP or 3 to 5 per cent of the central government expenditure (depending on the benefit package offered in the scheme).
• Extension of family benefits to all poor families with children (using the Family Hope Programme (PKH) scheme) by 2015 would cost around 1 percent of GDP.
• The government has a cash transfer program to severely disabled people, but the coverage is still low. Extending this cash transfer to all severely disabled people (using an estimated number of severely disabled) by 2015 will cost 0.007 per cent of GDP or less than half a percent of the central government budget.
• Universal pension (by gradually reaching all elderly by 2020), set at the level of the poverty line, would cost around 0.6 per cent of GDP or around 3 per cent of government expenditure.

“The workshop is expected to play an important role in building social protection mechanisms for Indonesia. Through dialogue and exchanges of experiences, it is hoped that future cooperation among relevant partners will be further strengthened,” stated Peter van Rooij, the ILO’s Director.

The workshop targets policy makers from Government ministries, particularly the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and other technical ministries. The workshop also involves representatives from employers’ and workers’ organizations, national and international organizations, UN agencies working on social protection issues as well as mass media.

For further information please contact:

Tauvik Muhamad
Programme Officer
Tel.: +6221 391 3112 ext. 103
Email

Gita Lingga
Media Relation Officer
Tel.: +6221 391 39112 ext. 115
Email