Uber Acquisition By Grab Threatens Increased Unemployment

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - A number of transportation observers assess the acquisition of Uber by Grab will potentially lead to a jump in unemployment.

This is due to the short duration of Uber application closing time which will be officially closed from April 8, 2018, so Uber drivers will find it difficult to register Grab as the new owner of Uber, within that short span of time.

Chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society Expert Council Danang Parikesit said here on Monday (2/4/2018) that the acquisition of Uber by Grab has indeed had an impact on Uber drivers having no other choice to follow the corporate action between Grab and Uber.

"This is a risk on the side of the partners who cannot fully accommodated by the operator," said Danang as quoted by Antara.

To that end, he assessed GO-JEK as the owner of similar applications to be able to play a role in accommodating the driver / driver.

The assurance of the fate of the Uber driver is very important, regardless of the fierce competition between GO-JEK and Grab.

If there are Uber drivers who choose to partner with GO-JEK, Danang continued, should not be a problem because of how the policies of each operator.

"So whether GO-JEK want to absorb Uber driver or not," he said.

Not absorbed the same thing also expressed by Darmaningtyas, Chairman of the Institute of Transportation Studies (Instran).

According to Darmangingtyas, if the Uber drivers are not fully absorbed, then it can reduce the supply of online transport in the field because the demand for online transportation continues to increase in number along with the increasing number of citizens who choose online transportation because it is more practical than using a personal vehicle.

"So if not absorbed will reduce the supply," he said.

For that, he encouraged GO-JEK to absorb the Uber driver. Yet the inclusion of Uber drivers to GO-JEK is not contrary to the moratorium of online drivers who had submitted the government, considering they have been previously registered as an online driver.

Danang added that as a regulated market, this Uber and Grab transaction should be known to the government from the beginning.

That way, things like this can be anticipated, because in addition to the fate of hundreds of thousands of drivers, will also disrupt the transport user community.

"The current issue is whether public services are disrupted, this is something to watch out for," he added.

On Monday (26/3) last week, Grab officially acquired Uber. Dmana Uber agreed to sell his business in Southeast Asia to Grab. A number of Southeast Asian countries whose assets and operations will soon be transferred to Grab are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

As part of the acquisition, Uber will have a 27.5 percent stake in Grab and Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO of Uber will join the Grab board of directors.