At least 1,000 workers in Bali were furloughed and nearly 200 others have been laid off so far this month, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the regional economy.
According to the latest data from Bali’s Manpower Agency, 78,310 workers in the province were furloughed and 3,246 were laid off during the pandemic. This includes 1,001 workers who were furloughed and 186 who had been laid off so far this year.
“The numbers will continue to rise because we have yet to receive complete data from all the regencies, some have yet to give us their data because they’re still collecting them,” the agency’s chief, Ida Bagus Ngurah Arda, said today.
With more than half of the regional economy dependent on tourism, Bali has been the hardest hit region in Indonesia during the pandemic. It contracted by 12.28 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter of last year, though there were signs of slow recovery by December due to the rising number of domestic tourists.
However, COVID-19 cases in Bali are on the rise in recent weeks, indicating possible hurdles ahead for a significant recovery. The province reported over 1,000 cases in the last two days, which brings the total to 25,000 coronavirus cases as of today, with 3,471 people currently in treatment and 655 officially reported deaths.
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