Experts call for action to curb unemployment<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Experts are appealing to the government to take
\nconcrete measures to stop high unemployment from swelling as a
\nresult of the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
Sociologists Arief Budiman and Loekman Soetrisno along with
\npopulation expert Sofian Effendi told The Jakarta Post yesterday
\nthat the government should either support the creation of high-
\nemployment projects or curb the massive layoffs expected from the
\nparalyzed construction industry and the liquidated banks.<\/p>\n
Arief Budiman, a professor of Indonesian studies at the
\nUniversity of Melbourne in Australia, said the government must
\nprovide jobs for employees who had lost their jobs due to the
\nlong-term economic improvement policy.<\/p>\n
He said in foreign countries, for example, the government
\nfinanced new projects in times of recession to provide jobs for a
\nlarge number of people.<\/p>\n
\"But in Indonesia, I think it's difficult for the government
\nto do such things, as a result of the financial shortage due to
\nthe monetary crisis,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Loekman Soetrisno said that in providing jobs, the government
\nshould aim at satisfying the need for basic needs such as food
\nand not merely the financial gain.<\/p>\n
\"It's a kind of labor intensive project, where people can work
\nby receiving the minimum regional wages,\" said Loekman who is
\nhead of the Center for Rural and Regional Development Studies at
\nYogyakarta's Gajah Mada University.<\/p>\n
He suggested the government encourage companies to make an
\nagreement with their workers to suspend salary increases in
\ndifficult times rather than face the possibility of layoffs.<\/p>\n
Sofian Effendi said that the government should issue a special
\npolicy aimed at the construction industry to enable them to get
\nsoft loans. He also asked the government to guarantee the
\nrollover of private sector debts.<\/p>\n
\"Such a policy should encourage the private sector to provide
\nadequate jobs for the workers or at least prevent them from
\nclosing,\" said Sofian, who is the assistant to the State Minister
\nof Research and Technology.<\/p>\n
The economic crisis has resulted in massive layoffs in several
\nprovinces.<\/p>\n
East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman said that as many as six
\nto ten thousand workers could face dismissal in the near future.<\/p>\n
An official at the All Indonesian Workers Union estimates some
\n40,000 workers are expected to be dismissed in Central Java in
\nthe coming months.<\/p>\n
Antara reported that West Java Governor R. Nuriana had
\nrevealed in a closed meeting Thursday that as many as 13,310
\nindustrial workers have been laid off in the province since the
\nbeginning of the monetary crisis.<\/p>\n
The figure is further augmented by 6,854 migrant workers who
\nrecently returned to West Java from abroad. (09)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/experts-call-for-action-to-curb-unemployment-1447893297",
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