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)