94,000 workers fired in first 10 months

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Around 94,000 people lost their jobs in the first 10 months of this year following decisions by many companies to shut down or downsize their businesses due to the lingering economic and political crisis, a senior government official said.

Director General of Industrial Relations at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Musni Tambusai told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that manufacturing companies, such as garment and footwear firms, contributed the most to the layoff figure.

"Between January and October around 94,000 workers lost their jobs. For the full year, we expect 112,000 to 115,000 workers to be laid off, but the figure will be relatively flat when compared to the 114,000 last year," said Musni.

Musni, however, warned that the figure could be much higher in 2004 because companies engaged in forestry-base businesses had informed the ministry of their intention to fire 50,000 workers due to a downturn in business, following the lack of available raw material as a result of rampant illegal logging.

"Actually, they have already suspended their workers. We are still processing their filing and the result will be included in the 2004 report. You can imagine how huge the figure is ... 50,000 in Riau and Kalimantan alone," he said.

Musni disclosed the figure on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VII for social affairs and manpower.

He explained that the figure was collected from the Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes in the region and in Jakarta. Any layoff plans by a company should be first registered with the committee for approval.

The committee is under the auspices of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.

Musni said that aside from forestry-based businesses, other firms that had not fully recovered from the impact of the late 1997 financial and political crisis were expected to encounter the same hardship next year amid fears of unrest during the general election.

However, he refused to disclose the government's estimation of the total number of layoffs for next year.

The figure on laid-off workers has worsened the problem of open unemployment in the country. For this year, unemployment is estimated to reach around 10.5 million, higher than 9.13 million at the end of 2002.

Elsewhere, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwawea said that unemployment for next year was estimated to increase by 1.5 million to 1.6 million, calculated according to economic growth of 4.8 percent.

He explained that 1 percent growth in the economy would provide around 400,000 jobs, meaning that 4.8 percent growth would provide 1.92 million jobs.

However, the job provision could not cover the increase in fresh workers from junior and senior high school, and university next year, which were estimated to reach around three million to 3.5 million, he said.

To help resolve the unemployment problem, the government has targeted next year to increase the export of manpower to 1.5 million from around 900,000 this year.

Jacob said that workers to be sent aboard were expected to consist of more skilled workers such as nurses and sailors. However, for the time being housemaids would still make up the bulk.

The workers are set to be sent mostly to countries in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe.

The government is also set to send 15,000 families, originating from Java, Bali and Sumatra, to remote areas in Indonesia next year to open new plantations under a transmigration program.