Massive layoffs in Tangerang leave 126,000 jobless

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Some 86,000 workers lost their jobs in massive lay offs in Tangerang over the past year when the companies they worked for declared bankruptcy, a top official said.

"The fired 86,000 workers have increased the total cumulative number of unemployed in Tangerang since the economic crisis started in 1997," Tangerang Mayor M. Thamrin said over the weekend in an address to the congregation of Baiturrahman mosque in Keroncong subdistrict, Jatiuwung.

Separately, the head of the local manpower agency, Achmad Kosasih, said that with the 86,000 laid off workers, the city now had 126,000 people out of a job as previously the number of unemployed was 40,000.

"In fact, there are many companies that have dismissed their workers without reporting to this agency so it's difficult to figure out the precise number of workers who have lost their jobs," he remarked.

He added that the settlement of several dismissal cases were still being processed either by the Central or Local Committees for the Settlement of Labor Disputes (P4P/P4D), saying that settlement of several other dismissal cases had also been sought through the state administrative court.

According to Kosasih, unemployment would continue to increase in Tangerang this year. "We're currently handling 260 cases of proposed dismissals from a number of companies," he noted.

But he said that as of December, his agency had only registered 21,000 job seekers, adding that most of the companies that had dismissed workers were those which produced textiles, garments and footwear.

"The companies had to lay off their workers because they suffered from declining orders, which are mostly from overseas, especially the U.S. and European countries," Kosasih said.

He said the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11 had apparently had an impact on foreign orders for such products. Many foreign buyers had also totally halted purchases from Indonesia, leaving many factories, especially in Tangerang, finding it difficult to pay their workers.