Labour Minister urges workers to be competitive in facing world of work transformation

The current situation demands that Indonesian workers continuously adapt to remain competitive in the job market. Jakarta (ANTARA) - Labour Minister (Menaker) Yassierli has urged workers to become increasingly adaptive and boost their competitiveness to confront the highly dynamic transformation of the world of work. Yassierli, in his statement in Jakarta on Monday, assessed that changes in the world of work are occurring very rapidly, driven by global dynamics, accelerated digitalisation, and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which are shifting skill requirements across various industrial sectors. “This situation demands that Indonesian workers continuously adapt to remain competitive in the job market,” the Labour Minister stated. Furthermore, he highlighted trade unions/workers’ unions (SP/SB), which not only play a role in advocacy but also act as drivers for enhancing workforce competency. In this context, he views trade unions as having a strategic role in preparing their members to face these changes, including through efforts to improve skills and productivity. “Indonesian workers must possess strong competitiveness and competency. Trade unions also have an important role in preparing their members to face the very rapid transformation of the world of work,” the Labour Minister stated. He emphasised that improving worker welfare must go hand in hand with enhancing the quality of human resources (HR). In this regard, he continued, trade unions serve as a bridge between industry needs and workforce capacity development. As a form of support, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker) is opening avenues for collaboration with SP/SB to deliver more adaptive training programmes based on industry requirements. These programmes encompass improvements in technical and non-technical skills, competency certification, education on Occupational Safety and Health (K3), and strengthening work productivity. “Please convey the training needs required. The government is ready to facilitate so that workers have added value and increasingly better bargaining positions,” he said. In addition to strengthening competency, Labour Minister Yassierli also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to bolstering worker protection. “These efforts are carried out through strengthening the benefits of Job Loss Security (JKP) and promoting expanded protection for digital platform workers, including online drivers and couriers,” he stated. He also invited trade unions to actively provide input on various labour regulations currently under discussion. “Healthy industrial relations can only be built through constructive dialogue between the government, employers, and workers,” said Yassierli.