Indonesian Manpower Ministry bans age restrictions in job postings

The Star

4 days ago

Two jobseekers study job openings during an employment fair on Aug. 23, 2013, at the Mega Career Expo in Balai Kartini, Jakarta. - JP/ANN
JAKARTA: Manpower Minister Yassierli has issued a circular preventing employers from setting age limits on vacancies to provide equal opportunities for all jobseekers in the country. 'The main point of this circular is to ban discrimination of any kind in the job recruitment process,' Yassierli said on Wednesday (May 28), as quoted by Bisnis.
While the 1945 Constitution guaranteed Indonesians rights to employment and a decent standard of living, the minister said discriminatory practices in job recruitment still persisted, including age limits, hiring based on good looks, marital status, height, ethnicity and skin colour.
Yassierli emphasised that the circular reflected the government's stance against discrimination and commitment to providing clear guidelines for recruiters to maintain objective and fair practices in the hiring process.
However, setting age restrictions for job postings is allowed under certain conditions, such as in cases where the nature of the job requires age caps, and as long as the restriction does not prevent the general public from having fair access to jobs.
'These conditions also apply to jobseekers with disabilities, where the recruitment process must be conducted without discrimination and based on competence and job suitability,' the minister said.
He also urged employers to provide accurate, honest and transparent job vacancy information through official channels, adding that this could prevent fraudulent practices, forgery and brokering that ultimately could harm jobseekers.
Further, Yassierli called on local governments to encourage businesses to devise policies on equal opportunity and non-discriminatory recruitment. 'I invite you to make this a moment for us to continue improving recruitment practices, making them more transparent, fair and competency-based,' he concluded.
The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) previously defended the practice of setting age limits for certain job applications, arguing that some positions required younger employees due to physical health considerations.
The business group also noted that some companies needed age caps to simplify the hiring process, especially when there was a large pool of potential applicants.
'In Indonesia, if there are only ten job openings, it's likely that 1,000 applicants will show up. Should we screen all of them? That would be costly,' said Apindo labour affairs chair Bob Azam on May 13.
Bob explained that the introduction of age limits in job applications stemmed from the imbalance between the number of job seekers and available job openings. Thus, he suggested the focus should be on expanding job opportunities.
In comparison, companies in neighboring Singapore did not set any age limits as there were more job openings than applicants, he said.
Indonesia has seen mounting dissatisfaction over labour conditions amid rising layoffs and job cuts this year. Yassierli announced earlier this month that 24,036 people had been laid off nationwide in the first four months of this year due to various reasons including bankruptcy, downsizing and relocation.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) in its recent report noted the number of laid-off workers amounted to 70,000 as of April this year. Neither of those figures reflect the full picture in a country where a vast chunk of economic activity takes place in the informal sector.
During International Workers' Day on May 1, President Prabowo Subianto promised to form a layoff task force, pledged to improve workers' welfare and promote stronger labour protections as he addressed hundreds of thousands of workers rallying at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta. - The Jakarta Post/ANN