400,000 workers jobless

400,000 workers jobless

SEMARANG, Central Java: Four hundred thousand construction
workers have been left jobless in the recent economic crisis that
has forced about 3,500 builders to close down here.

The chairman of Central Java's Indonesian Builders Association
(Gapensi) branch, Soendoro, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that
only 500 out of 4,000 member companies had so far survived the
crisis.

"We can not help the situation, 400,000 workers have to lose
their jobs," he said.

Soendoro said surviving member companies were those developing
bridges, dams and irrigation embankments, of which the building
material prices were unaffected by the crisis. (har)