Government to open more jobs for expats
Government to open more jobs for expats
JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon allow expatriates to work in positions which are currently closed to them, according to a senior government official.
Yudo Swasono, the director of the Center for Labor Planning and Development at the Ministry of Manpower, told The Jakarta Post yesterday the government is preparing a new "negative list" -- list of jobs which are closed to foreign workers, usually those at the high- and middle-level management.
"The new list, to be issued later this year, will open many jobs and positions which are currently closed to expatriates."
"The old list is no longer suitable for our goal to compete in the trade liberalization era. We cannot afford to keep on using it," he said. "We expect that the new list will help attract more foreign investors here."
When the new list becomes effective, foreigners, for example, will be able to practice law here or work as accountants.
The existing negative list, issued by the Ministry of Manpower in 1981 as an implementation of the Presidential Decree No. 23/1974, bars foreigners from middle- and high-level management positions.
It opens jobs such as supervisors, and bookkeepers at a temporary basis.
The new negative list is a follow up of the Presidential Decree No. 75/1995. It will open up all positions on boards of directors and the boards of commissioners of companies partly or wholly owned by foreign investors.
Only the position of personnel directors at wholly foreign- owned, joint ventures and national companies will remain closed to foreigners.
Yudo said that the ministry is currently conducting a labor market study to determine the ratio of labor and demands in various sectors.
The results of the study will become the basis for ministry officials setting up the new list, Yudo said. He did not specify any timetable for the study and the issuance date for the list.
"We will learn what positions and sectors should be opened to foreigners," he said. "We'll also establish a set of professional requirements that foreigners should meet if they wish to work here."
The start of trade liberalization in the next few years will see workers move freely from one country to another, provided they met professional qualifications set by their destination countries.
"Japanese workers will be free to work here by 2000, provided they met requirements ... such as speaking Indonesian and understanding Indonesian culture," Yudo said.
The number of expatriates currently working in Indonesia is approximately 60,000. Most of them are given positions which cannot be filled by local people, employed in the following sectors: agriculture, mining, manufacturing, hotels, power plants, construction, trade, transportation, and insurance. (rms)