Expatriates' pay nears $200 million

Expatriates' pay nears $200 million

JAKARTA (JP): Nearly US$200 million is being paid out each month to more than 57,100 expatriates working in Indonesia, with figures expected to continue rising in the near future, Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief said yesterday.

In 1995, the government issued 57,159 official work permits to foreigners. This number represents a 38 percent increase over the previous year's total of 41,422, Latief said.

The minister said that based on their tax returns, 13,624 expatriate managers each receive salaries of $6,250 a month; 11,874 professionals are paid $5,000; 8,254 supervisors get $2,150 and 23,407 have a monthly salary of $1,600.

Their monthly total wage bill comes to $199,717,300, or an annual sum of nearly $2.4 billion, he said.

Latief admitted he was surprised when he learnt of the large number of expatriate workers here.

"The rise in the number of Koreans is amazing. Maybe it's because their investments here are growing," he said after meeting with President Soeharto.

Permits issued to Koreans made up 11,668 or 20.4 percent of the 1995 figure, doubling their 1994 total of 5,539 permits. The second biggest contingent of workers here is the Japanese with 9,442, followed by the Taiwanese with 5,694, the Indians with 4,121, the Americans with 3,537 and the Australians with 3,049.

Latief said the high number of expatriate workers is due in part to the lack of proficient Indonesians capable of filling certain positions.

He conceded the weaknesses of the national education system along with other vocational training programs required to strengthen workers' skills.

Audit

The government is about to embark on a national audit of professional workers in Indonesia and determine the precise number of working professionals required in the future and also help design the kind of education required to fill the demand.

Of the seven institutions authorized to issue work permits, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) in the past two years has issued most of them. Last year, 66.8 percent of the permits were issued by the board. The other major issuer is the Ministry of Manpower.

According to Latief this is due to the nature of BKPM's very own job description. "We asked them to pay special attention to the permit process," he said.

While Indonesia forks out close to $2.4 billion to expatriates, the government's income through the more than one million Indonesian workers abroad pales in comparison. In fact by the end of this century, the government still only expects to receive half the amount being paid out to expatriates here.

"It will become a new commodity which will be big in the year 2000. We are targeting at least $10 billion (a year)," Latief said of the future of Indonesian laborers abroad.

Last year the government expected to receive $100 million from sending laborers abroad. Most Indonesians work in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Latief noted that as the number of skilled laborers being sent abroad increases, then the money received will rise accordingly.

Unemployment

He sets 1998 as a target after which all Indonesians sent abroad will be skilled laborers. The minister estimates that 42 percent of those being sent now are skilled.

Speaking on the number of Indonesians unemployed, Latief said that "it is rather high."

The number of "open unemployed" (those working less than one hour a week) rose from 3,654,416 in 1994 to 4,443,730 in 1995.

If added to this is the number of "critically unemployed", those working less than 15-hours a week, the total swelled from 11.1 million in 1994 to more than 14 million last year.

Latief expressed alarm particularly because 52.2 percent or 7.33 million of those unemployed last year were between the ages of 15 and 25.

"These are youngsters who we have to encourage to work productively ... The government will foster small and medium scale enterprises to deal with this unemployment," he said.

He added that the causes were a combination of both population growth, the large number of those entering the workforce, and the insufficient number of new jobs.

Latief said he also discussed the recent minimum wage increases with the President, saying that generally the media had responded positively to this move.

Nevertheless he said there are labor activists who continue to view cynically the government's move and pointed to Mochtar Pakpahan, Teten Masduki, Munir and Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara as the naysayers.

"They'll remain that way until doomsday. Everything that the government does is considered bad in their eyes...But that's all right, this is a democracy isn't it?" Latief quipped.

Latief also reminded employers that as Moslems enter the fasting month, Idul Fitri bonuses must be given out.

"Let's not wait until a strike occurs," he remarked.(mds)