Celios: Strengthening worker talent drives creative industry competitiveness

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), Bhima Yudhistira, stated that strengthening the talent pool of skilled workers can bridge the industry’s needs gap, thereby boosting the competitiveness of the creative industry as a pillar of national economic growth. Bhima noted that based on 2025 data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the labour force totals 153 million people, a potential that can be optimised through improvements in education quality, training, and skills certification. “Data shows that Indonesia’s labour force reaches 153 million people, but only 12.66 percent have higher education, and more than 30 percent of companies face difficulties in recruiting quality talent,” Bhima said in Jakarta on Monday. Bhima stated that the demand for skilled workers, especially in the digital economy sector, is expected to continue rising until 2030. He also highlighted that the gap between the availability of skilled workers and low labour absorption will trigger a shift in the creative industry towards greater use of AI or machine learning, as companies struggle to find talent from universities or vocational school graduates. This situation presents a momentum for the government, the education sector, and industry players to accelerate the creation of digital talent so that Indonesia can meet domestic industry needs while capitalising on technology-based economic opportunities. He added that Indonesia has a significant opportunity to strengthen the competitiveness of the creative economy through more equitable human resource development aligned with industry needs. Currently, the majority of the creative industry workforce is still concentrated on Java Island, so strengthening education and training centres in Eastern Indonesia is seen as a way to open new economic opportunities while expanding public access to quality jobs. “The most crucial problem is the gap due to geographical concentration. As much as 58 percent of the creative industry workforce is still located in three Javanese provinces, while the share in Eastern Indonesia is very small,” he said. Bhima stated that aligning educational curricula with industry needs, including providing internship programmes and professional certification, is believed to accelerate the emergence of a job-ready workforce. This step not only supports digital sub-sectors such as gaming, animation, software, and digital content but also enhances the competitiveness of culinary, fashion, and craft sub-sectors. According to him, the digital creative industry is growing faster with competitive salaries, whereas traditional sub-sectors like culinary, fashion, and crafts tend to experience workforce informality. Strengthening protections for workers in the creative economy sector, especially those still in the informal sector, is also an important part of creating a sustainable industry ecosystem. With support for competency improvement, talent distribution, and labour protection, the creative economy has the opportunity to become one of the motors of national economic growth while creating quality jobs across various regions.