Childlaborpolicyin Demography Bonus
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International Journal of Governmental Studies and Humanities (IJGH) http://ejournal.ipdn.ac.id/index.php/ijgsh CHILD LABOR POLICY IN DEMOGRAPHY BONUS UTILIZATION Fajar Ajie Setiawan1, Elis Rusmiati2, Tubagus Adi Satria P3, Fitriana Putri Hapsari4. Department of International Relation (Universitas Wanita Internasional) Kampus Universitas Moetopo Beragama Anggota Komite Pemantau Resiko (Dewan Pengawas BPJS Kesehatan) Department of International Relation (Universitas Lintas Internasional Indonesia) *Correspondence: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Indonesia is facing a dilemmatic demographic bonus. The high number received of productive-age population will rapidly increase national economic revised growth, but without quality improvement, Indonesia will be burdened accepted by high numbers of unskilled labor. It prompts a need for policy priority regarding the quality improvement for population to obtain a comprehensive study on policy priority which has been made by Keywords: stakeholders in regards to child labor as a preventive action, and to Child labor; demography bonus; accurately devise intervention recommendations. This research was population quality; policy conducted using exploratory qualitative approach, analyzing field data coordination. obtained on purposefully selected provinces of North Sumatra and Bangka Belitung. Data collected using primary sources (field observations, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) and secondary sources (desk study using descriptive statistic and literatures). Result shows that the root problem of child labor is the pull of economic activity that offers attractive income for families. Another root problem is poverty and the desire of children to earn their own money. Many obstacles were faced by the policymaker in implementing a sustainable child labor policy, such as: 1) unstable policy coordination, 2) lack of commitment and conflict of interest between stakeholders and policy maker, 3) effectiveness of socialization methods, and 4) lack of synergy due to sectoral ego that occurred in various related institutions in the regions. In terms of the demographic bonus, child labor policy implementation should be comprehensive and followed by operational policies that offer reward and punishment for the family, such as socio-economic incentives. INTRODUCTION percentage. At the same time 19% or 1/5 of Based on the UCW (2012) report the number the adolescent population aged 15-24 are of children aged 7-14 years is still working unemployed (BPS, 2010). Many teenagers reaching 2.3 million people and of that nearly today (19%), especially adolescent girls who 1.4 million children under the age of 13 are in an inactive position, where they are not currently working, and nearly 650 thousand active in the workforce are also inactive in children aged 13-14 years’ work in general school. This is a challenge because there’s lost (not light). Most of these are workers in the population productivity and should be natural resource sector and are non-formal. If optimized for demographic bonuses. studied based on the population of the One of the key concerns in the UCW report province then the area with the highest number is the fact that 96% of active child laborers of child laborers is West Java and East Java working in families are unpaid workers but if viewed based on regional region then the (UCW, 2012). In addition, many child workers eastern region of Sumatra, Sulawesi and are found in hazardous work sites where Eastern Region of Indonesia have more 985,000 children aged 5-14 years or 44% of 46 the total working children work in the importance of population controls still very neighborhood. The hazardous environment is a high and still necessary to suppress many workplace that deals with dangerous objects, things other than the population. dust, heat, extreme temperatures, fire and gas, Reflecting on the background then the authors chemicals, dangerous altitudes, dangerous intend to examine the urgency of preparing the machinery and equipment. The existence of quality of child labor and adolescents ahead of child labor in the neighborhood is closely demographic bonuses to be included as a related to the related industrial sectors, priority target achievement of development. including agriculture, mining and On the basis of the question raised the manufacturing. question of how policy priorities have been Child labor has become the world's spotlight given so far by local stakeholders in on Indonesia. One of them related to mine, controlling child labor and adolescents and The British Guardian magazine highlighting preparing them for demographic bonuses and the role of Apple Inc. over the rapid pace of how policy interventions need to be child labor and youth employed in tin mines in recommended so that child labor control can the Bangka Islands (Hodal, 2012). Also related be accurately and precisely done in preparing to the handling of child labor in various bonuses demographics. sectors in North Sumatra. This does not mean that there has been no Based on these questions, the study aims to: 1) effort from the Government and Local obtain a comprehensive overview of policy Government. Since 2008 until now, the priorities given so far by local stakeholders in Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration has controlling child labor and preparing them for made withdrawal of child labor from the demographic bonuses; and 2) obtain accurate workplace of 32,663 people and returned to policy intervention recommendation education unit (BPS, 2010). Child Labor recommendations related to efforts to control Reduction activities were carried out as part of child labor and adolescence in order to prepare the implementation of the National Action and demographic bonuses. Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Answering the questions and objectives of the Child Labor (RAN-PBPTA) as mandated by study will provide a comprehensive overview Presidential Decree no. 59 of 2002, which in this year entered Phase 3 (Year 2013 - 2022). of the policy priorities provided by local stakeholders in controlling child labor and All national legal norms clearly regulate adolescents and recommendations for policy this issue and Indonesia already has a interventions for the control of child and commitment to reduce significantly. adolescent workers in preparation for Unfortunately, until now the efforts to demographic bonuses. decrease the number of child labor has not significantly affected. In fact more than half of today's teenage unemployed have been METHOD unemployed in the span of 12 months. While Research of Fares and Raju (2007) said those underemployed (working <35h / week) that: account for one third of the total teenagers Across countries, a negative correlation who work and tend to be unproductive. Many between child labor and income is of these underemployments are found to be found but this relationship is not linear working in the informal sector. In this group, and indicates that at very low levels of adolescents should receive a low quality income, the effect of changes in per informal sector work where getting out of the capita income on the incidence of child group is very difficult without education. labor is the highest. The above description provides an overview of the demographic bonus of Indonesia is now This means that low per capita income experiencing a dilemma, which on the one leads to an increase in child labor. Besides, hand can be a great opportunity for economic Fares and Raju said that (2007): growth but if we are not ready with the The size of the agriculture sector in the quality, then Indonesia will face high economy remains strongly associated unemployment burden. This makes the with the incidence of child work. 47 This means that agriculture sectors such as as the basis and legal protection of children at agriculture and livestock encourage increased the national level, such as the government's child labor. Poverty is often the cause and success to prevent and tackle child labor cases cause of the emergence of child labor issues in the footwear, garment and fishery industries (Goonesekere, 1998). Demographics within (Irwanto and Natalia, 2011, p. 6-8). the family such as age and sex of the child, the Based on previous review, according Udry education level of the head of the family, as (2006): well as the size of the family influence in the decision to attract children from school and The most effective way to draw children work (Edmonds, 2009). These factors are out of damaging work is to encourage closely related to household consumption as school attendance. One way of doing so well as household economic capacity which would be to improve school quality, and are a major factor in the determination of child therefore increase the gain to attending labor (Akarro and Mtweve, 2011). The higher school cost of household consumption compared to the head of household income tends to He said that in reducing child labor policy encourage child labor from the family to actors should encourage the presence of increase household income. In other words, children in school and by giving awareness of poverty within the family can be a major cause the benefits of school is very important. This of child labor practices. Ashagrie (1997) awareness can also arise based on parental classifies a child who can be called a worker if understanding. Meanwhile, according to 'economically active'. Basu (1999) adds the Beegle, Dehejia, and Gatti (2009): argument that governments