Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that the number of unemployed people in the country increased by 2.67 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from 7.1 million to 9.77 million or from 5.23 percent to 7.07 percent.

Of those, 2.36 million people were sacked while 310,000 others could not find jobs due to the pandemic, Indrawati told a press conference on 24 November.

She pointed out that the increasing unemployment rate would have the implication of reducing the rate of the people's welfare but the social assistance from the government has helped overcome the problem.

According to the minister, the decreasing rate of welfare was reflected by more people who moved their jobs from the formal sector to the informal one.

Source: VNA