Minimizing labor migration problems

Minimizing labor migration problems

Carunia Mulya Firdausy, Jakarta

The Indonesian economy once again finds itself in trouble. In
addition to the continuing unstable exchange rate, there are the
problems of inflation and unemployment. Inflation reached 17.9
percent year-on-year in October, while unemployment rose to 12
percent.

A high unemployment rate in particular will no doubt result
in more Indonesian workers, particularly unskilled and semi-
skilled workers going abroad to look for work. Therefore,
policies are needed to anticipate increasing labor migration from
Indonesia to labor receiving countries in Asia.

More policies governing the migration of Indonesian workers
overseas are needed because labor migration from Indonesia has
not brought only positive effects, but also negative ones.

For labor receiving countries in Asia, labor migration has a
positive effect in that it can reduce domestic labor scarcities.
But on the negative side, labor migration can create social and
economic problems, including job competition for locals,
especially for unskilled workers, and can have a dampening effect
on wages received by semi-skilled and unskilled workers.

The number of Indonesian labor migrants in Asia in 2004 was
about 3.5 million, excluding undocumented or illegal migrants.
Major destination countries for these Indonesians were Malaysia,
Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.

In terms of the types of jobs engaged in by the migrants,
there are differences from one country to another.

In Malaysia, for instance, most of the Indonesian migrant
workers are engaged in the agricultural sector (especially the
plantation sector), while the rest are engaged in the
construction sector, the manufacturing sector and certain service
sectors.

In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore most of the Indonesian
migrants are involved in 3-D (dirty, dangerous and difficult)
jobs. They are maids and construction workers, or work in the
manufacturing, marine and service industries.

Labor migrants to Middle Eastern countries, especially to
Saudi Arabia, are mostly females who are contracted for a period
of two to three years, mainly as domestic helpers.

Apart from unskilled and semi-skilled workers, there are also
professional and technical contract workers who migrate to
Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Brunei. However,
these workers still account for a small share of total labor
migrant flows, and they consist predominantly of contract workers
(who migrate for a duration of about two to three years) rather
than permanent settlers.

Anticipated future policies to minimize problems associated
with increasing labor migration abroad are considered important
because there have been many problems associated with the
Indonesian migrants. These problems include bad treatment by
employers, unpaid salaries, being overworked and bad living
conditions.

Poor treatment by employers abroad has led many migrants to
change employers. If they cannot find new employers, they usually
go to friends or to the Indonesian embassy in the respective
country for assistance and protection.

It is true that many efforts have been made to protect and
facilitate international labor migration from Indonesia to labor
receiving countries in Asia. In addition to numerous
consultations, the government has also enacted regulations on
international labor migration.

However, problems continue to beset Indonesian migrant
workers. For these reasons, the following policies are considered
important:

First, there is a need for the government to facilitate and
regulate the recruitment of migrant workers. This can be done by
improving the skills of Indonesians who want to work abroad so
they can compete with migrants from other countries.

Second, there is a need for each migrant worker to be insured.
This is important to avoid problems associated with accidents,
death and sickness. The insurance can be paid by the migrants
themselves or by their employers through wage deductions, or by
the Indonesian government from the remittances sent home by
overseas workers.

Third, there is a need for the government to set policies to
manage the returning migrants (particularly semi-skilled
workers), because these returning migrants have more experience
and skills obtained from abroad.

Fourth, regulations or rules to organize labor migration
should be issued under a law.

This is needed not only to protect labor migrants from bad
treatment by employers abroad, but more importantly because there
is a tendency in which labor receiving countries in Asia are
reluctant to formally accept these low-skilled workers.

Finally, it is important to limit the number of unskilled
workers being sent abroad. Instead, the government should send
semi- and highly skilled workers abroad to study new technologies
in Asian countries, as well as in other developed countries. This
is critical to speed up technological development in Indonesia.

The writer is the deputy for societal dynamics at the Office
of the State Minister for Research and Technology, and can be
reached at dep-dm@ristek.go.id. The opinions expressed in this
article are personal.