Millions of Workers Receive Wage Subsidy Assistance: How is the Money Being Used?

The Indonesian government has again disbursed Wage Subsidy Assistance (BSU) in 2021. According to a survey by the National Team for Poverty Reduction Acceleration (TNP2K), the majority, or 91.1%, of BSU recipients used the funds to purchase basic necessities.

Furthermore, this government social assistance was also used to pay for electricity/water (30.8%), purchase mobile phone credit/internet packages (23.3%), and children's schooling (20.9%).

Some also used the BSU to finance medical treatment and purchase health products (18.4%), pay rent (11.2%), and pay off debts/loans (7.9%). Only 6.9% of respondents used the social assistance for savings.

This survey also revealed that the average basic salary of the beneficiaries of this social assistance program was Rp 2.9 million per month. 56.45% of recipients were contract workers, and 62% of respondents experienced difficulties meeting their daily needs because their income was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This survey was conducted on 1,798 respondents in 90 regencies/cities across Indonesia. The survey employed a systematic sampling method from March 24 to May 5, 2021.