More than three-fourths of workers in Indonesia who had to leave their job since May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic have returned to work, according to Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

The minister said that the figure was based on a survey by the World Bank on impacts of the pandemic from May to August 2020.

She said that about 70 percent of the country’s population have resumed their work as before the pandemic broke out.

Meanwhile, the ratio of bread earners halting working was down to 10 percent in the latest survey from 24 percent in May.

According to Statistics Indonesia, 29.12 million people in working age in Indonesia were affected by COVID-19 in August, while the number of the unemployed was 9.77 million, a rise of 2.67 million from the same period last year.

The ministry said that the Indonesian Government will focus on dealing with economic issues, including the strengthening of production to create more jobs.

Over the years, the National Economic Recovery (PEN) programme has shown its efficiency in reducing poverty by helping about 3.43 million Indonesians escaping from poverty.

The Indonesian has decided to shorten the year-end vacation to one day instead of four as initial plan to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

As of 1 December, Indonesia had reported 543,975 COVID-19 cases, with 17,081 deaths, the highest among Southeast Asian countries in both number of infections and deaths.

Source: VNA