Laid off workers look abroad

SURABAYA: Hundreds of redundant workers across East Java have sought new jobs abroad in the past few months, an immigration official said here on Tuesday.

"Applications for passports have reached between 300 and 400 per day in the past few months, mostly coming from people who lost their jobs in the prolonged economic adversity," Suyono of the Surabaya immigration office said.

Antara reported on Tuesday that many people were waiting at the immigration office an hour before it opened at 8 a.m. Most of them were youths seeking work in Middle East, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

The news agency said the applicants were not put off by the whopping Rp 300,000 (US$34) demanded by the authorities for an application. This is almost triple the official rate of Rp 110,000.

"Working abroad will earn me between Rp 3 million and Rp 5 million per month. That's more than enough," Aruman, a migrant worker hopeful from Sidoarjo, said.