Govt warned of unemployment

Govt warned of unemployment

CIREBON: The number of jobless Indonesians has increased
steadily in the past few years and has reached an alarming level
due to deteriorating economic conditions, Manpower and
Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Solidarity of
Unemployed Indonesians in Cirebon, West Java on Tuesday, Jacob
said that more than 36 million people nationwide were currently
jobless.

"The government has a difficulty in dealing with the jobless,"
said Jacob, adding that his ministry was currently soliciting
input from various quarters on solutions to the unemployment
problem.

The minister also expressed concerns over the low quality of
the country's human resources.

The latest data, issued in 2000, showed that 60 percent of the
country's workforce were elementary graduates, 16 percent junior
high school graduates, 19 percent senior high school graduates
while only 4.6 percent had an education higher than senior high
school. -- Antara