Unemployed graduates

Unemployed graduates

The government has again expressed great concern over the
increasing number of educated people, including university
graduates, among Indonesia's unemployed ranks. And, as in the
past, whenever the issue of the educated unemployed surfaces, the
government stresses the need for further educational reform.
Minister of Information Harmoko, who explained the unemployment
problem after the monthly limited cabinet session on the economy
Wednesday, also repeated the government's old plans on incentives
for the generation of self-employment.

The increasing number of high school and university graduates
who are seeking jobs but are unemployed should indeed raise great
concerns. These graduates, different from the jobless with only
primary schooling, obviously do not accept their fate or
condition as the act of God. They tend to be more vocal in airing
their disillusionment. Because their aspirations and expectations
are usually much higher than those of their fellow villagers,
they mostly prefer the urban areas, where the competition for
jobs is more fierce and the chance for them to land jobs is very
slim.

Unemployed graduates of high schools and universities also
represent a waste of resources, as the government has invested a
a lot in their education. In the meantime, the capital costs of
starting up investment ventures are made higher than those in
other countries because of the great difficulties in getting
skilled manpower. Investors are forced to spend a great deal to
get qualified workers.

The government, however, has yet to work out concrete programs
to cope with the problem. Both the ministers of manpower and
education and culture have, over the past few years, often talked
about what they call "link and match" between education and
manpower needs. But we have not yet seen any coordinated efforts
which are effective for linking the educational and vocational
systems with the business sector.

The government has yet to set up a body which will function as
a focal point for the development of nationally identified and
agreed on competency standards which would provide a bridge
between the industry and vocational training and the education
system. Such a body is required to oversee mutual recognition of
training activities in relation to accreditation of courses,
credit transfers, recognition of prior learning and certification
of individuals. Without such standardization and recognition, the
numerous non-degree vocational schools or institutes which have
been mushrooming over the past few years are poised to increase
the number of academic graduates with unmarketable trades or
skills.

The linkage between the educational system and the business
sector should be supported by an extensive apprenticeship system
to provide the trainees with a combination of on-the-job training
in a factory and theoretical education in school. A well-
organized apprenticeship system is mutually beneficial because
both the trainees and the potential employer share in the
training and educational costs. It has the potential to be
sustainable because the market mechanism is applied to the
trainees, schools and employers. Such a system also will ease the
pains and problems usually occurring in the transition between
school and work.

Minister Harmoko also talked about incentives for university
graduates to create self-employment. We are still uncertain about
what he meant by incentives, but the most glaring problem faced
in the marketplace is related to the great difficulties in
starting up small businesses.

Many university graduates intending to start up businesses of
their own are already discouraged at the outset, as they find
themselves bogged down in the maze of regulatory processing of
numerous permits. Hence, the most important incentive should be
the easing and simplification of permits for starting up small
enterprises, both in the rural and urban areas.