18,000 workers needed

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan (Antara): The Indonesian forestry sector will need an estimated 18,000 workers until the year 2000 to ensure sustainable forestry development, an official said Saturday.

In 1995 alone, the Indonesian forestry sector needed a total of 23,213 workers, but only 9,133 workers were employed, I Made Wessen of the East Kalimantan Office of the Manpower Ministry told a one-day seminar here.

The lack of workers should have proper attention from the relevant state agencies and forest concession holders to ensure sustainable forestry development, he said.

Giving an example, he said, more than 70 forest concession holders in East Kalimantan had difficulties employing skilled forestry workers.

He said the province now had job vacancies for a total of 422 college graduates majoring in forestry, but only 178 had been filled.

Bandi Supraptono, a forestry expert, underlined the need for forestry companies to organize in-house training to anticipate the shortage of skilled forestry workers by the year 2000.