Aceh unemployment figures up 61%

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: Unemployment numbers here increased 61 percent over last year.

The head of the provincial labor office, Prie Soekarno, attributed the large increase to the country's economic doldrums.

He said the number of unemployed people increased from 108,830 at the end of 1996 to 175,226 at the end of last year.

Aceh has a population of about 3.9 million.

Prie said government officials have urged companies not to lay off workers, but he admitted that the unemployment figures could now be higher.

Many companies have been forced to lay off workers.

"It's true many companies have done that, but we cannot determine how many workers have been laid off so far," he said as quoted by Antara yesterday.