Government vows to speed up labor intensive projects

Government vows to speed up labor intensive projects

JAKARTA (JP): The government said yesterday it would speed up
the implementation of projects designed to provide work for
millions of people left jobless by the recession.

These labor-intensive projects must be carried out immediately
in order to provide these people with income, Minister of
Manpower Abdul Latief told reporters after meeting President
Soeharto at the latter's Jl. Cendana residence.

"The President is giving his serious attention to the
unemployment problem," Latief said. "These people (who have been
laid off), will run out of money in three to six months time."

The government has allocated Rp 1.8 trillion ($180 million) of
its 1998/1999 budget to finance these projects and the World
Bank, whose president James D. Wolfensohn was in Jakarta
Wednesday, has pledged a further $1 billion to the government to
resolve the unemployment problem.

Some of the projects have already been initiated in Jakarta
and other big cities. They include the clearing of Jakarta's
filthy drainage system, a project involving thousands of mostly
unskilled workers and former construction laborers.

Latief said some 1.5 million blue-collar workers who recently
lost their jobs would be given priority in the recruitment for
these projects.

He said the situation was not likely to improve in the next 12
months. "The unemployment rate will worsen because this year our
economy will have zero growth," he said.

Latief estimated that about 8.5 million people will be out of
work by the end of this year.

This figure consists of 2.7 million fresh high school
graduates who are joining the labor market for the first time,
4.5 million who were already unemployed, and between 1 million
and 1.5 million people who will be laid off this year.

The Federation of All Indonesian Workers Union said as many as
13 million people could lose their jobs this year.

Figures

Labor leaders have said the government's figures conceal the
true extent of the problem, because employment is officially
defined as working at least one hour a week.

They believe that underemployment, which includes people whose
jobs do not provide sufficient income, accounted for 40 percent
of Indonesia's nearly 90 million workforce even in normal times.

Latief said workers in the construction, textile and garment,
and shoes sectors were particularly vulnerable to unemployment.
"This year's unemployment crisis has been very shocking."

Separately, a senior Ministry of Manpower official suggested
that those who have been recently laid off should consider
working abroad, where the chances of finding jobs were higher.

Ministry spokesman Sriharto Brodjodarono said there was still
strong demand for construction and plantation workers in
countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The ministry, Sriharto said, would assist anyone interested in
contacting local manpower exporting agencies.

The ministry estimates that Indonesia could send 2.5 million
workers abroad in the Seventh Five Year Plan which begins in
April 1999. This is double the number sent in the current Sixth
Five Year Plan.

Malaysia alone could provide 1.2 million jobs for Indonesian
workers, Middle East countries another 600,000, and other Asia-
Pacific countries 700,000, he said.

Between 1993 and 1997, Indonesia sent nearly 1 million workers
abroad. They sent remittances amounting to $2.35 billion during
that time, Sriharto said. (prb/09)