Job opportunities web site launched

Job opportunities web site launched

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As part of its efforts to reduce unemployment, the government
introduced on Wednesday a national website offering information
about job vacancies and a nationwide job-seeker database.

Officially launched by President Megawati Soekarnoputri,
www.infokerja.web.id provides information about vacancies in
companies and factories owned by both the government and the
private sector.

With the website, the government also wants to facilitate the
recruitment process for both companies and jobseekers.

"We hope this will be a breakthrough and hope that each
province will have its own website for job opportunities in the
next few months," Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob
Nuwa Wea said after the launch.

He said the online service would simplify the recruitment
process as people could apply online.

Reducing the unemployment rate is one of the major problems
the country faces as it struggles to fully recover from the
economic crisis that has been beleaguering the country since
1997.

According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) head Soedarti
Surbakti, the number of unemployed in Indonesia is around nine
million people.

"This is the number of jobseekers and those who work fewer
than three hours per day," said Soedarti, adding that Indonesia
had 100 million people of productive age.

However, she said, there were different perceptions about the
definition of unemployment. Some considered those who work less
than 36 hours a week as jobless.

"For us, we say that those working in the formal sector have
42 working hours per week, so those working in the informal
sector could be more or less than that number," Soedarti said.

Jacob insisted, however, that the number of unemployed people
was not as high as BPS had disclosed due to differing definitions
of joblessness.

"I do not believe in the figure that BPS disclosed; I think it
is less than that," the minister said without revealing his
estimate.

The ministry has also worked together with several
organizations to open up more websites for job opportunities.

With the Indonesia Accountants Foundation (YAI), the ministry
launched www.yai.ac.id, while the Karawang municipality operates
www.disnakerkarawang.go.id, which provides information about job
opportunities in the area.

"We hope that more municipalities will follow Karawang's
example in providing a website service," Jacob added.