1.4 million new job seekers unable to find employment

JAKARTA (JP): Some 1.4 million new job seekers will be unable to find employment, pushing the number of unemployed in the country this year to 5.8 million people.

Records from the Ministry of Manpower show that if the economy this year grows by 3.5 percent, only 1.3 million new job opportunities will be created for the expected 2.7 million entering the job market.

By the end of 1997, the number of unemployed already stood at 4.4 million.

Antara reported that the Ministry of Manpower report predicts that an additional one million people could lose their jobs due to the increasing number of companies shutting down delayed projects this year.

The news agency also cited business associations and organizations who estimate that 800,000 workers from the property and construction sector were already unemployed along with 300,000 workers from textile and garment companies.

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said during a breaking of the fast gathering here Tuesday that the government will start labor intensive projects this week aimed at providing jobs for the dismissed construction workers.

"We estimate that this will absorb 70 to 80 percent of the workers who were laid off," said Latief.

Latief said projects would be initiated in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and other cities along Java's northern coast all the way to Surabaya, East Java.

In December, President Soeharto ordered the provision of projects to enable unskilled workers to earn an income in the lead up to Christmas, New Year and the Islamic fasting month Ramadhan.

Latief said the government would hire workers for short-term jobs such as digging drainage ditches, dikes and water canal renovation, slum areas rejuvenation and clean water procurement.

Latief brushed aside reports of a mass repatriation of Indonesian workers from Malaysia as the Indonesian government has not received any official notification from Kuala Lumpur.

"The Malaysian government usually informs our government three or six months earlier before sending back illegal Indonesian workers," Latief was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the Malaysian government has twice in the past assisted in returning illegal Indonesian workers.

About 1.5 million Indonesians work in Malaysia, of which 800,000 work in the formal sector.

"Our last report concluded that the private sector in Malaysia is still eager to employ Indonesian workers in their factories, including the plantation sector," Latief said. (09)