Enemployment, poverty to reach alarming level
Enemployment, poverty to reach alarming level
JAKARTA (JP): An average of almost 15,000 workers will lose
their jobs every day this year and two out of three Indonesians
are likely to be living below the poverty line in 1999, the
International Labor Organization (ILO) warned on Monday.
In a report titled Employment Challenges of the Indonesian
Economic Crisis, the organization presented a profoundly gloomy
picture of the situation in the country due to the economic
crisis.
"A year after the economic crisis began to unravel in
Indonesia, the country's economy still continues to collapse in
almost all sectors," the report said.
"Assessment of the economic wreckage from the crisis and the
mid-May riots indicate that unemployment is skyrocketing and
income levels are eroding.
"Meanwhile inflation and the erosion of purchasing power are
pushing millions more below the poverty line," the ILO said.
It predicted a total of 5.4 million people would be fired by
year's end.
The report is in line with earlier findings from the Central
Bureau of Statistics (BPS), which said in July that the number of
Indonesians living below the poverty line had soared to 79.4
million, about 40 percent of the country's population of 202
million,
The bureau warned the figure would increase to 95.8 million --
about 48 percent of the total population -- by the end of this
year if no economic recovery was in sight.
In its report, the ILO described the situation on the poverty
front as "dismal", going further than the BPS in warning that by
1999 the poverty level would be comparable to the dire situation
in the 1960s.
"Stagnant wages and incomes in nominal terms, together with
high inflation, have brought 37 percent of the population, around
75 million people below the poverty line by mid-1998 ...
"Without any improvements in household income, further price
increases in 1999 will push some 140 million, or 66 percent of
the population below the poverty line," the report said.
The employment task force report was commissioned by the
United Nations system in Indonesia and led by the ILO office in
Jakarta.
The report appraises the impact of the government's labor
intensive programs, and also the social implications of the
International Monetary Fund's (IMF) reform program for the
country.
It underlined the necessity of establishing a social safety
net to respond to problems of unemployment and worsening poverty.
"The ILO stresses the importance of tackling both the short
term consequences of the economic crisis as well as medium and
long-term solutions to deal with the problems of unemployment and
under-employment."
It proposed short-term employment and income support
strategies, including expansion of labor-based public works
programs, deregulation and promotion of the informal sector.
The report also suggested "partial subsidies for basic
commodities and support for basic health, nutrition and
educational services targeted at the poor".
The report was jointly launched Monday by ILO official William
D. Salter and Ravi Rajan, the resident representative of the
United Nations. (prb/rms)