UNAIR NEWS – Recently, there has been news about the government’s plan to add a new status for civil servants called part-time Government Employees under Work Agreement (PPPK). The policy is outlined in the draft bill to revise Law Number 5 of 2014 concerning Civil Servants. The step was taken to reduce the government’s budget for employee expenses.
Economics lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Airlangga Prof Rossanto Dwi Handoyo SE MSi Ph.D. shared his professional view. He stated that the increasing appointment of contract workers in government agencies could lead to a continuous surge in contract workers. The current number of contract workers is 2.3 million, and he believes this automatically burdens the state budget to accommodate them.
The current number of contract workers is 2.3 million, and he believes this automatically burdens the state budget to accommodate them.
“In some regions, the budget allocated to pay salaries, including for contract workers, is quite high. This sometimes exhausts the fiscal capacity of certain regions, as these funds are used for operational expenses, such as salary payments, rather than investment financing,” he said.
Part-Time Civil Servant Policy can’t reduce the budget
Prof. Rossanto revealed that the part-time PPPK is a government mechanism to accommodate contract workers whose contracts will be terminated on November 28, 2023. He believed that the mechanism will not significantly reduce the state budget for employee expenses.
“Viewed from the budget perspective, there is no difference. It’s about money going from one pocket to another. The amount remains the same because there is no reduction in the number of contract workers; they are still included in that classification,” he explained.
Prof. Rossanto further emphasized that PPPK part-time is not a way to save the budget. In this case, the amount will remain unchanged as the budget for honorarium will be redirected to PPPK part-time.
“The budget amount remains the same, as their positions are essentially the same. However, there will be no more appointments of honorarium employees. Consequently, the cost for honorarium employees will be eliminated,” he added.
Part-Time PPPK should align with institutions’ needs
If the policy is implemented, the recruitment process should align with the needs of the institutions. Part-Time PPPK fills job positions that cannot be fully covered by the civil servant (PNS) and full-time PPPK, as they have different responsibilities and rights.
“There needs to be an analysis of the job requirements by the respective government agencies. If they require part-time PPPK, the agencies can propose the desired quantity. Everything should be based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of the job needs,” the professor said.
“If there is a task a PNS or full-time PPPK can’t handle, they can hire the part-time PPPK. However, government agencies can’t randomly hire PPPK part-time.”
Author: Nopitasari
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
