Labor-intensive projects the only hope for the jobless

Text and photo by Ridwan M. Sijabat

SURABAYA (JP): Life is hard for 34-year-old Mbak (sister) Wok since she lost her beloved husband Poniman in January and her job three months ago.

Employed for two weeks in an irrigation project in her village Sumur Welut, she earns a daily wage of Rp 6,500 (65 U.S. cents) to feed her five children.

"I have taken any jobs I could get my hands on after my husband died in January because I have to raise my children alone. I have nobody else to help us."

Her children have been forced to drop out of school because her income is hardly enough to meet their daily needs, let alone pay for school fees.

"My husband inherited nothing and I have no permanent job after being dismissed from a plastic factory in the city," she said. She also sells bakso (meatball soup) at nights for additional income.

Karsa, 44, another villager who joined the Rp 68 million labor intensive project after being unemployed for four months, criticized the local administration for establishing a a weekly work rotation basis for the participants.

"What should I do during the week when I am off?" he complained.

Farmer Karsa urged the government to continue the program to help needy villagers during the crisis.

"The Rp 6,500 daily wage is not enough to cover their family's daily need, but it will be helpful if they are allowed to work in the project until they can find another job."

He said his family of four could afford to eat rice only once a day and they consumed cassava for breakfast and dinner.

Wok and Karsa are among 550 peasants who sold their land, totaling about 90 hectares, to housing developers two years ago. They are allowed to farm the land until the development starts.

Ismail, chief of the Surabaya manpower ministry office, said the irrigation canal was needed to enable farmers to harvest twice a year.

"This project is meant to give a double advantage to the farmers -- employment and increased agricultural products."

Sali, 40, a villager in Kandang, about 60 kilometers south of Malang, East Java, said he was happy the government initiated a road development project in his area.

"With the road, all villages in the Sukarejo subdistrict will be connected with the regency capital, Malang, and its economic development can be accelerated."

He said farmers in the subdistrict had stopped planting oranges, apples and pineapples because of the lack of transportation and rising production costs.

A desperate Kasiyadi said most people in his village could no longer afford to eat rice three times a day, resorting to consuming cassava and corn instead.

"With a daily wage of Rp 6,000 from the road project, I cannot buy enough rice, coffee, sugar and soap. The job has been implemented on a weekly staggered schedule to allow all villagers to benefit from the project."

In the village, rice costs between Rp 3,000 and Rp 4,000 per liter and sugar is Rp 4,000 per kilogram.

Syafaruddin, chief of the Malang manpower ministry office, said the Malang regency had received Rp 734.2 million to finance 16 labor-intensive projects expected to absorb about 1,200 workers.

In operation for two months, the project ends next month.

"After that, I don't know what the government will do to help the people survive the economic crisis."

Untung Basuki, chief of the East Java provincial manpower ministry office, disclosed that the provincial administration had allocated Rp 46.5 billion to finance 643 labor-intensive projects in order to employ more than 16,000 workers.

Although he acknowledged the projects could not solve the crisis, he said they could at least help the jobless and low- income earners cope with hard times.

"The people want such projects to continue but the government's financial ability is limited. This projects will end this November and what will happen after that, I don't know."

Labor-intensive projects worth Rp 598.5 billion have been launched by the government in 4,600 rural and urban areas in 27 provinces to help ease unemployment and anticipate negative impact of the prolonged drought and crisis.

The government, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and cooperatives, has also launched an eight-month project costing Rp 399 billion to employ 65,000 dismissed skilled workers and job seekers.

Project participants, selected from among workers and the jobless, are trained in their expertise for eight months and then sent to companies or given the opportunity to start businesses.

The East Java provincial manpower ministry office in cooperation with 94 local NGOs and cooperatives has recruited 14,000 dismissed workers and skilled jobless people to participate in 700 program packages worth 79.8 billion.

NGOs and cooperatives in East Java are optimistic that they will be able to execute the program and complete it on schedule.

Bambang Soemantri, chairman of the Nation Empowerment Foundation in Surabaya, said that his foundation was entrusted to carry out 11 program assignments. It has recruited 220 dismissed skilled workers and jobless to be trained in numerous industries and businesses in the capital.

Workers will be trained for 100 hours in their respective expertise and sent to work at a monthly wage of Rp 300,000.

"After eight months of apprenticeship, the participants will be given the opportunity to decide whether they want to be permanently employed or they will start their own business," he said.

Yulia, chairwoman of the Surabaya Computer Institute, said her foundation had provided a training program for 400 semiskilled workers and university graduates for employment in the industries. Her organization cooperated with a consulting company, five hotels and several home industries in and around the city in the program.

She said her institute had 23 program assignments worth Rp 417 million to train and place the workers in hotels and industries.

Burhan, chairman of the Institute for Social Science Application in Malang, warned that the government should tightly control implementation of the project because many participating NGOs were inexperienced.

"I know for a fact that many NGOs involved in the project were established just several days before the project was announced. We don't want the project to be neglected since many dismissed workers in the province cannot find jobs because they do not have the required skills."

He said his institute had four packages to train 90 workers in fishery and chicken farming.

But the funds allocated for workers to start their own businesses are too small, he said. "How can a worker manage with Rp 1.2 million to establish and run a chicken farm."

Trainee Sardjiman said he would join with other participants to establish a chicken farm to overcome the funding problem.

Din Syamsuddin, director general for labor placement at the Ministry of Manpower, has acknowledged that the funds allocated for the projects are dwarfed by the size of the problem.

"The projects can help only around 1.5 million people nationwide while the number of jobless has reached almost 18 million," he said.