Unemployment problem haunts city: Surjadi

JAKARTA (JP): Unemployment and the economic gap are two problems which need special attention, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja warned in his end of year address.

Jakarta has 400,000 unemployed or 11.7 percent of its labor force, while the increase in low-skilled migrants has made unemployment a constant problem, Surjadi said Tuesday.

He said migrants wanting to work in Jakarta should have enough skills to stop them from becoming a problem to the city administration.

The unskilled migrants might become illegal vendors or criminals, he said.

Surjadi said the city's economic gap was a "critical" problem.

The city's income gap index has reached more than 0.4 compared to 0.29 in 1987, Surjadi said, citing a World Bank report.

"Our homework is to lower the (income gap) index," Surjadi said. The ideal figure is 0.

But Surjadi cited several achievements.

He said Jakartans earned an average of US$3,600 in 1996. He said this was higher than last year's average of $3,200 and much higher than the national average of $917.

Surjadi said the income increase came from the city's 8.32 percent economic growth rate. He said this was higher than the sixth five-year development plan target of 8.23 percent a year.

The number of poor people in Jakarta had fallen over the past 11 years, he said.

In 1995 there were 497,000 poor people or 5.7 percent of the population. In 1984 there were 804,000 poor people or 11 percent of population, Surjadi said.

He said Jakartans well-being also improved and cited the human development index.

The index has three criteria: a long and healthy life, knowledge and the opportunity to put that knowledge into productive activities.

Citing the latest Central Bureau of Statistics figures, Surjadi said Jakarta's index in 1993 was 57, higher than any other province which all had scores below 50. But 57 was still low on a scale of 0 to 100, he said.

Surjadi said Jakarta's index had risen from 53 in 1990. The figures were from a report on human development indexes in the country's 27 provinces, published in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program.

Surjadi said the city's development toward becoming a service city was measured by economic sector statistics. Trade and services played the highest role in the city's economy at 63 percent, compared to farming (0.3 percent) and industry (36.2 percent). The municipality has urged industry to move from the city. (anr/ste)