CRPD
Rights Tracker

In fulfilling the right to employment for persons with disabilities, the Government implements 3 main intervention programs, namely:

• providing training and vocational education to utilize job opportunities and digital work skill transformation according to labor market needs;

• increasing the work participation of the disabled workforce in the labor market;

• providing entrepreneurship opportunities for persons with disabilities who do not enter the formal workforce.

Regulatory and Policy Aspects

There are three derivative regulations of Law Number 8 of 2016 related to the fulfillment of the employment rights of persons with disabilities, namely:

• Government Regulation (PP) Number 70 of 2019 concerning Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Respect, Protection, and Fulfillment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which stipulates that efforts for the empowerment and independence of persons with disabilities fall under the fourth strategic goal in the National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities (RAN PD);

• PP Number 60 of 2020 concerning Disability Service Units in the Employment Sector mandates that each local government, through the Department of Manpower, establish a Disability Service Unit (ULD) that provides employment services for persons with disabilities and employers, including the provision of information, assistance, and monitoring;

• Presidential Regulation Number 53 of 2021 concerning the National Human Rights Action Plan (RANHAM) 2021-2025 related to employment rights.

Article 32 regulates the rights of workers with disabilities, including the guarantee of the 1 and 2% quota for workers with disabilities.

Article 32 Paragraph (3): Local Governments and Regional Owned Enterprises shall employ at least 2% (two percent) of persons with Disabilities from the total number of employees or workers.

Article 32 Paragraph (4): Every private employer shall employ at least 1% (one percent) of persons with Disabilities from the total number of employees or workers.

Furthermore, this regulation also affirms that Local Governments and employers shall facilitate the fulfillment of the workforce quota for persons with Disabilities and Local Governments shall provide incentives to employers who employ persons with Disabilities.

Notes on the Employment Rights Situation of Persons with Disabilities

According to FORMASI Disabilitas records in the Annual Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2022 – 2023, there are at least 4 main challenges in the implementation of the employment rights of persons with disabilities, namely:

• The 2% quota for the government sector and 1% for the private sector is not optimally implemented. The causes are disharmony between national and local policies, the mismatch of job vacancy opportunities with the potential and educational qualifications of persons with disabilities.

  Based on BPS National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) data as of August 2023 processed by Pusdatik Kemnaker, the working-age population with disabilities totals 21.23 million people, with a labor force of 14.77 million people. Meanwhile, the number of persons with disabilities who are employed is 13.9 million people.

  In fulfilling employment rights, the Indonesian government has provided job training and Prakerja (Pre-Employment) card programs, although in practice persons with disabilities do not fully benefit from these programs due to various barriers faced, ranging from access to information to accessibility in implementation, including training methods.

  
  

  At the local level, 19 Provinces had local regulations guaranteeing the fulfillment of the rights of persons with disabilities as of December 2022. Despite the existence of local regulations, in fact not all of those regions fully understand the policy and quota system and its technical implementation.

  
  

  The 2% quota for jobs in the government sector and 1% for jobs in the private sector has not been fully achieved as of 2022. Sakernas 2022 shows that the disabled labor force working in the formal sector is only 18%. More than half of the disabled labor force (58%) works as entrepreneurs. A total of 10% of the disabled labor force are freelance workers in agriculture and non-agriculture.

  
  

• Lack of reasonable accommodation and accessibility for selection participants with visual disabilities, especially those applying for general formations. Ideally, every applicant with a disability, whether participating in the special formation selection or the general formation selection, should receive the same assessment and provision of accessibility to ensure fair selection results.

  
  

  Government Regulation No. 60 of 2020 concerning Disability Service Units in Employment affirms the establishment of ULDs in the regions. According to data from the Ministry of Manpower, as of December 2023, there were 207 ULDs in the employment sector established, namely in 28 Provinces, 127 Regencies, and 52 Cities, with placement data of 702 persons with disabilities. From monitoring conducted by disabled persons' organizations, ULDs do not yet fully have work programs or activities for outreach to job seekers with disabilities, and job fairs. Furthermore, the involvement of persons with disabilities in the organization of employment ULDs is also still minimal.

  
  

  The existence of special formations is actually understood as earmarking persons with disabilities to only apply for the formations provided. Consequently, discrimination occurs with the view that persons with disabilities cannot apply for or work outside the special formations that have been set. In fact, special formations are only an affirmation to accelerate the achievement of the quota as required by law.

  
  

• A number of forms of injustice are often experienced by workers with disabilities—especially for women workers with disabilities. Wage differentiation, lack of available access facilities and assistive devices for work, up to lack of understanding that leads to unfair and unfriendly behavior towards workers with disabilities are often found and raised in this report.

  
  

  A person with a disability accepted in a company or government agency still experiences discriminatory treatment from recruitment, amount of remuneration, career path/career position, as well as work accessibility aids and reasonable accommodation. Persons with disabilities find it difficult to maintain employment because of the strong assumption that employing persons with disabilities carries high risk and large costs that must be incurred to support the job. For persons with mental disabilities, reasonable accommodation, such as adjustment of working hours, the need for a quiet room, and access to psychologist/psychiatrist services is still very minimal. Furthermore, there are persons with disabilities who are unilaterally terminated from their employment because they were known to access the psychologist services provided by the Company.

Good Practice in Wonogiri

The number of persons with disabilities in Wonogiri is the second highest in Central Java. Wonogiri is one area that promotes the strengthening of the Employment ULD. As of early 2024, in the employment sector, there were 186 job vacancies from 43 companies, 86 of which have been filled by disabled workers. In Wonogiri, there are also two sewing business groups run by persons with disabilities that are capable of producing various types of products.

The Wonogiri Employment Disability Service Unit (ULD) has built the Disability Workforce Information System (abbreviated SI-TeKaD) as an effort to address the challenge of building inclusive employment. This Information System was built as part of the effort for data collection of disabled workers and serves as a starting point for achieving the 1% and 2% worker quota, including as a means for channeling disabled workers to companies in need. For persons with disabilities, through SI-TeKaD, they can obtain information on training and job vacancies in companies.

In addition, the Employment Disability Service Unit can monitor the presence of disabled workers in companies to ensure they are comfortable working and receive the same protection and rights as other workers.