Acehnese working, but for how long?

Acehnese working, but for how long?

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Ridwan, a freelance driver, was seen busy wandering around the
passenger arrival hall. He approached several potential
passengers arriving in Banda Aceh airport from Jakarta and
offered them his services.

One by one the passengers turned down the offer as they had
already made their own arrangements, but the young Acehnese kept
trying, until a security guard warned him to get out as he had
entered a restricted area.

He was soon locked in a heated argument with the security
guard, saying he was being discriminated against, but then a
passenger called, and Ridwan left the guard with a smile.

Ridwan recalls how life has been tough. Competition for jobs
has been increasingly fierce as Banda Aceh is recovering after
the tsunami disaster that left some 130,000 Acehnese dead and
another 500,000 displaced.

The bonanza of cash for work and other temporary jobs in the
booming construction projects will soon come to an end.

Right now, "As long as someone has the will to work, he will
easily get a job, says Ridwan, a freelance driver for the past
two years. "But competition is getting fiercer."

Job sustainability has been a cause for concern in rebuilding
Aceh. Currently, the labor market is dominated by construction
work. In a joint report released few days ago, the Aceh
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Body (BRR) and its
international partners estimate that construction jobs in Aceh
and Nias will be in the range of US$100 - US$150 million per
month for the two coming years, compared to less than US$10
million per month in 2003.

To meet this demand, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) estimates that about 200,000 skilled laborers such as
carpenters, bricklayers and others are required as well as a
significant number of unskilled workers. The BRR and the
government claimed that priority would be given to the Acehnese
victims of the tsunami but given the immediate demand for skilled
workers and the time needed for training, many highly skilled
workers had to be brought from outside regions, the report said.

The report said the tsunami has led to major changes in the
composition and structure of the workforce. While there was a
spike in unemployment immediately after the tsunami disaster, the
labor force has recovered rapidly one year later. The
participation of adult males in the labor force has returned to
the pre-tsunami level, while the participation of youth and women
has grown substantially.

In order to keep employment at full capacity in the longer
term, the BRR and its international partners said in their report
that a labor monitoring system had to be developed. Training had
to be linked with the job market and the same time, a vocational
training coordination center should be set up to ensure the
training met a desirable standard.

The current strategy that has been developed by the NGOs and
the government in providing the victims of tsunami with "a
fishing rod" instead of the fish will be useful to keep
employment in Aceh at full capacity in the next few years.

One example of these efforts is Muslim, a resident of Kramat
sub-district in Aceh Besar regency. After losing his house and
family in the tragedy, he was given a small grant by a German
NGO, which paid advance payments on a motorbike, which Muslim
used as a motorcycle taxi. He had two years to pay the balance.

With the motorcycle taxi, the 40-year-old former fisherman can
now earn a living without being dependent on aid given by NGOs or
the government.

"I think my life is on the right track," said Muslim.