Indonesian beauty therapists migrating to frosty Canada are among many Indonesians being headhunted for work overseas.
Reputed for having a leading international spa industry, Indonesia is a haven for headhunters around the world searching for the best spa therapists, including masseuses and beauty experts.
Since mid last year, the Indonesian government has been trying to promote the country's creative, medium and high skilled workers to developed countries.
The newly established National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers estimates around 40 percent of the one million Indonesians working overseas are from creative fields such as the beauty industry.
In the past, medium and high-skilled workers only accounted for 30 percent of Indonesians employed overseas.
"More middle and high-skilled workers are set to fill job vacancies overseas. Canada is keen to have our spa therapists, Portugal wants our sailors and Qatar wants our energy experts," the Board's chairman, Jumhur Hidayat, told The Jakarta Post.
Jumhur said the government would now aim to place medium and high-skilled workers in new labor markets and improve recruitment and training at home.
As well as protecting the rights of Indonesian migrant workers, the government-sanctioned Board will look for job vacancies overseas and help international headhunters recruit workers from Indonesia.
There were 4.3 million registered Indonesian migrant workers last year, with 70 percent employed in low skilled sectors such as housekeeping and construction, according to the Board.
It estimated some two million workers were unregistered last year.
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia pooled some 80 percent of all migrant workers from Indonesia.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, had around 108 million of labor force as of February last year, among some 162 million Indonesians over the age of 15, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
The BPS said 10.01 million Indonesians were unemployed in August last year, but analysts estimate that the figure could be up to 40 million people.
Because there is no social security financial coverage for unemployed people in Indonesia, most of them are seeking any kind of activities to keep ends meet, including job in the informal sector.
In a bid to tackle the huge unemployment problem, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to help send 3.5 million Indonesian workers overseas within his five-year term.
The government claims it will accelerate employment placements by setting up a "job fair" section in every subdistrict in the country, sponsored by the Placement Board.
The Board chairman Jumhur said the office would provide information to those who want to work overseas, as well as linking people with local suppliers of migrant workers.
"The section is also aimed at eliminating brokers who are mostly misguiding the workers to their own advantage," Jumhur said.
"Based on our study, 49 percent of people know about oppurtunities to work overseas from their brokers, 48 percent from their neighbors and friends, while only 3 percent from government agencies," Jumhur said.
"This is just what we want to change. The government will be more proactive in promoting oppurtunities of working overseas."
The Board said it had found jobs for medium and high-skilled Indonesian migrant workers this year in Australia, which needs 400,000 workers in Western Australia.
Malaysia also needs 500,000 workers, while Europe needs 200,000, it said.
As part of the recently signed Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, Japan will take on 1,000 Indonesian nurses this year, with the figure expected to rise further each year.
The Board said host countries often refused to grant working visas to Indonesian migrant workers, claiming it was not in the interests of their own citizens competing in the labor market.
"The host countries often make it difficult for our workers to get work permits despite the fact they are badly needed by companies there. This is the problem we need to discuss with other countries," said Jumhur.
Meanwhile, chairman for the Union of Indonesian Migrant Worker Suppliers, Yunus Yamani, said the government's pledge of one million new migrant workers this year was unrealistic because of expensive and time-consuming red tape.
"The creation of the Board only adds more bureaucracy," Yunus said.
The government originally promised to slash migration applications to a 13-step process, but now has 44 stages, he said.
"This is just ridiculous." he said.
Yunus said the administrative costs for sending a migrant worker overseas had increased to Rp 1 million per person from Rp 700,000, because migrant worker suppliers had to deal with officials from both the manpower ministry and the new Board.
Eyebox Potential overseas jobs by sector (medium & high-skilled labor) 1. Manufacturing 2. Plantation 3. Construction 4. Hospitality & tourism 5. Oil & gas 6. Shipping 7. Nursery
Countries with vacancies (medium & high-skilled labor) 1. Australia (Western Australia) 2. Malaysia 3. Qatar 4. New Zealand 5. Portugal 6. Canada 7. Japan 8. South Korea 9. Spain 10. Other Western European countries
Source: National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers
Eyebox
The National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers estimates that total earnings from Indonesian workers overseas can reach as much as US$14.2 billion each year, far higher than Rp 5.84 billion reported by the central bank based on records accumulated from local banks.
The Board's figure uses the assumption that only 40 percent of workers are using banks to send their money back home, while the remaining 60 percent are bringing their cash home, or through friends and small firms.
The Board claimed that the unrecorded earnings are far more than those sent through banks.
Eyebox Migrant worker placements Year Workers Earnings
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