UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE SYSTEM IN THAILAND: A LESSON FOR INDONESIAN UNEMPLOYMENT SOCIAL SECURITY

SHANDIKA PUTRA D, Nurhadi, S.Sos, M.Si., Ph.D

2019 | Tesis | MAGISTER SOSIOLOGI

Pengangguran selalu menjadi masalah tersendiri di setiap negara. Tingginya tingkat pengangguran akan mempengaruhi individu dan mengganggu produktivitas nasional. Sistem jaminan sosial yang kuat menjadi penting untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut. Namun, pemerintah Indonesia belum ada perlindungan ketunakaryaan yang terintegrasi dalam sistem jaminan sosial nasional mereka. Kondisi ini membuat penganguran di Indonesia lebih rentan terhadap hambatan untuk bekerja kembali, kemunduran keterampilan dan masalah keuangan. Sebaliknya, Thailand sebagai negara ASEAN pertama yang menerapkan asuransi pengangguran, dapat menekan tingkat pengangguran menjadi rendah. Terkait hal tersebut, studi ini difokuskan pada analisis langkah pemerintah Thailand dalam mengatasi masalah pengangguran melalui sistem jaminan sosial. Kemudian, menggali pelajaran dari pengaplikasian kebijakan ini terhadap rancangan jaminan social ketunakaryaan di Indonesia kedpannya. Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah secondary data analysis menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif—yang sebagian besar diperoleh dari laporan pemerintah dan studi sebelumnya terkait isu pengangguran di Thailand dan Indonesia. Secara keseluruhan, Thailand telah berhasil mengurangi masalah pengangguran dengan memberlakukan sistem unemployment insurance (UI). Pelajaran yang dapat dipetik diantaranya perlunya integrasi system antara tunjangan finansial, pengembangan keterampilan, dan penyaluran tenagakerja ke dalam skema jaminan sosial ketunakaryaan Indonesia. Selain itu, perlunya revitalisasi kebijakan terkait pengangguran di Indonesia seperti BLK dan pesangon untuk mendukung proses penempatan kerja kembali secara efektif.

Unemployment always becomes a ubiquitous issue either in developing or developed countries, including Indonesia. The high level of unemployment rate not only affect the individuals but also will disrupt national productivity and indirectly affect the economy’s growth rate. A strong social security system in term of unemployment protection becomes essential to tackle those problems. However, in the case of Indonesia, integrated unemployment protection still does not available in Indonesian national social security system. This condition makes unemployed people in Indonesia more vulnerable to labour market re-joining barrier, skills deterioration and financial problems. As a comparison, Thailand as the first country in Southeast Asian that successfully implemented unemployment insurance, has a positive report on the lowest unemployment rate among other countries in the region. In this case, this study focused on analysing how the Thailand government responses with the unemployment problem in their society through a social security system. Then, uncovered lesson learned from this policy implementation to Indonesian future unemployment benefit provision. The method used in this study was secondary data analysis using a qualitative approach which mostly used government reports and previous studies related to unemployment issues in Thailand and Indonesia. Overall, Thailand has successfully reduced the problem of unemployment by enacting unemployment insurance (UI) system in their society, especially for formal workers. Several lessons can be learned from their policy enactment including the need of integrated system on financial support, skill development, and job channelling in Indonesian unemployment social security scheme proposal. In addition, revitalise the current unemployment supports in Indonesia such as BLK and severance pay integration into the unemployment scheme to effectively support the unemployment to re-join the labour market.

Kata Kunci : Unemployment insurance, Financial support, Skill development, Job channelling, Thailand, Indonesia.