Experts call for action to curb unemployment

Experts call for action to curb unemployment

JAKARTA (JP): Experts are appealing to the government to take
concrete measures to stop high unemployment from swelling as a
result of the economic crisis.

Sociologists Arief Budiman and Loekman Soetrisno along with
population expert Sofian Effendi told The Jakarta Post yesterday
that the government should either support the creation of high-
employment projects or curb the massive layoffs expected from the
paralyzed construction industry and the liquidated banks.

Arief Budiman, a professor of Indonesian studies at the
University of Melbourne in Australia, said the government must
provide jobs for employees who had lost their jobs due to the
long-term economic improvement policy.

He said in foreign countries, for example, the government
financed new projects in times of recession to provide jobs for a
large number of people.

"But in Indonesia, I think it's difficult for the government
to do such things, as a result of the financial shortage due to
the monetary crisis," he said.

Loekman Soetrisno said that in providing jobs, the government
should aim at satisfying the need for basic needs such as food
and not merely the financial gain.

"It's a kind of labor intensive project, where people can work
by receiving the minimum regional wages," said Loekman who is
head of the Center for Rural and Regional Development Studies at
Yogyakarta's Gajah Mada University.

He suggested the government encourage companies to make an
agreement with their workers to suspend salary increases in
difficult times rather than face the possibility of layoffs.

Sofian Effendi said that the government should issue a special
policy aimed at the construction industry to enable them to get
soft loans. He also asked the government to guarantee the
rollover of private sector debts.

"Such a policy should encourage the private sector to provide
adequate jobs for the workers or at least prevent them from
closing," said Sofian, who is the assistant to the State Minister
of Research and Technology.

The economic crisis has resulted in massive layoffs in several
provinces.

East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman said that as many as six
to ten thousand workers could face dismissal in the near future.

An official at the All Indonesian Workers Union estimates some
40,000 workers are expected to be dismissed in Central Java in
the coming months.

Antara reported that West Java Governor R. Nuriana had
revealed in a closed meeting Thursday that as many as 13,310
industrial workers have been laid off in the province since the
beginning of the monetary crisis.

The figure is further augmented by 6,854 migrant workers who
recently returned to West Java from abroad. (09)