Landuse and human resources

The policy of encouraging industrial growth during the past 25 years proved inadequate in keeping pace with the growing number of human resources. The number of job opportunities available is not balanced by the number of people entering the labor market.

In the past few days, two new developments related to the human resources situation have occurred. First, the government decided to extend landuse rights (HGU) from 80 to 95 years. Second, Prof. Sumitro Djojohadikusumo suggested that the government reviews its human resources development policy.

The extension of landuse rights is expected to encourage investments in the agro business, which is a long-term undertaking and needs long-term safeguards. This extension to a certain extent addresses Prof. Sumitro's suggestion. A healthy agro business environment would be able of absorb 27 percent of the available workforce. This is a significant percentage that will assure more equitable spread of the benefits of economic growth.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta