1.4 million new job seekers unable to find employment

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)