Fewer register to work overseas

PURWAKARTA, West Java: The number of people from Puwakarta interested in registering with the government to work overseas has seen a significant drop this year.

In the first six months of this year, only 200 people have registered with the local office of the Ministry of Manpower to work overseas.

"This is a tremendous drop from last year which saw 7,699 (people register to work overseas), and the previous year which saw over 15,500," Irsal Osman, an official at the local manpower office, was quoted as saying by Antara on Sunday.

He believes the decline may be due to the inability of many prospective workers to pay the administrative fees.

For example, anyone registering to seek employment overseas as a maid must pay a fee of Rp 400,000.

Irsal said it was likely many potential workers were seeking assistance through labor firms to find employment overseas.

"Even though the administrative fees are higher than at the government office, many seem to choose private firms because they think they will be sent abroad quicker."