35 percent of jobs available left vacant

35 percent of jobs available left vacant

JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-five percent of job vacancies in the city cannot be filled, the Manpower office announced yesterday.

Freddy P. Tuamelly, head of the office, told The Jakarta Post: "Most job seekers are not qualified for the jobs offered. They are mostly recent graduates, but the jobs require experienced people."

Most of the unfilled vacancies are sales and technical posts in private companies. The overall problem is exacerbated by the fact that many job seekers want to be civil servants, he said.

The latest figures from the manpower office show that in the period from April to September, only 5,147 out of 34,026 jobless were found employment. The number of jobs available was 6,629.

In the previous fiscal year, only 13,366 out of 67,468 job seekers were placed, while 16,341 vacancies remained.

The high number of unfilled positions can also be put down to the problem that many vacancies are in companies located too far from the places where job applicants live. "Transportation has become an important factor in choosing a job," said Freddy.

Governor Surjadi blames poor dissemination of information for the high rate of unemployment in Jakarta.

Freddy acknowledged that the Manpower Information Center, established in August, has not been functioning at optimum. He said a high-tech network is needed to improve the system.

The center, located on Jl. Prapatan, Central Jakarta, was set up to serve as a huge database with information on everything related to manpower, not just job vacancies. (32/yns)