The Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) estimates that the wave of layoffs (PHK) for the labor-intensive textile and footwear industries will continue in 2023. This is because the demand for export-oriented products is still weak due to the world recession. Hariyadi Sukamdani, Chairperson of Apindo explained that since the beginning of the second semester of 2022 there has been a decline in demand for textile and footwear products in the global market, especially for developed countries. Noted, the decline ranged from 30% to 50% compared to last year. This situation will continue until the first quarter of 2023.

"This condition forces companies in the sector to significantly reduce production and lead to reduced working hours and layoffs. As an illustration, based on reports from the garment, textile and footwear industries, there have been layoffs of 87,236 workers from just 163 companies," said Hariyadi in a press conference in Jakarta, Wednesday (21/12/2022).

According to him, the massive wave of layoffs was also reflected in data from the Employment Social Security Administration Agency (BPJS), where there were already 919,071 workers disbursing old age security funds (JHT). They are victims of layoffs from various industries in the country.

In the remaining time of 2022, Hariyadi estimates that the figure will reach 1 million people who will disburse JHT due to being affected by layoffs. Not to mention the number of workers who do not yet have BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. In other words, the exact number could exceed 1 million people.

"This data is the most adequate data as a source of valid information, considering that every employee participating in BPJS Ketenagakerjaan who has been laid off has an interest in withdrawing his JHT funds, compared to layoff data from ministries or other institutions which originate from company reports, many of which do not report them," he said.

In terms of trends, continued Hariyadi, the disbursement of JHT funds due to the crisis since 2019 has continued to increase. It was recorded, in 2019 376,456 workers disbursed their rights followed in 2020 by 679,678. Finally, throughout 2021 there will be 922,756 workers.

“In other words, the world economic situation continues to show a negative trend. The projected layoffs remaining until the end of 2022 are very likely to exceed 2021 layoffs due to the global economic crisis that has occurred at the end of 2022," he said.