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.