Wasted talent

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro disclosed the other day that one in eight registered job seekers in Indonesia in 1995 were university graduates. In itself, this statistic is not too shocking considering that unemployment among intellectuals is not an exclusive Indonesian phenomena. The problem of jobless college graduates is found in industrialized countries, and often, at higher rates.

But when we consider that only 4 percent of Indonesia's workforce has a university education, then we begin to see the irony of the problem. And when we consider that employers have been complaining about the poor skill of workers, then we can see the gravity of the problem facing our education sector.

The large number of jobless college graduates represents a huge waste: of the potential talent they represent when the country needs them the most, and of the scarce resources that has gone into their education.

The situation is not improving, although the problem has been known for some time. In 1990, again based on statistics given by Wardiman in the seminar on intellectual unemployment, nearly one in 13 jobseekers were college graduates.

There are other implications of the swelling rank of unemployed graduates for the country as a whole. These young graduates will become so desperate that they will start taking any jobs, even jobs that have traditionally gone to people with high school diplomas.

There is also the feeling for some of being dejected by the system, after postponing employment and studying for so many years. Some people may also begin questioning the value of pursuing higher education, and this cannot be good for the country in the long run. And although this may be disputable, some people say unemployed graduates pose potential security risks.

What went wrong? One is tempted to blame the economy's inability to absorb all the graduates that the country produces each year, in spite of a 7 percent or more growth rate. This is only partially true. Among new graduates who will not find jobs every year are some 10,000 from teachers' training colleges. Indonesia needs 60,000 new teachers each year and produces only 40,000 graduates, but the economy can only absorb 30,000.

The bigger blame lies in the way we run our educational system, particularly the higher-learning institutions. The presence of so large a pool of unemployed intellectuals when the country needs more graduates means there is a mismatch between what education produces, and what the real world needs.

The hundreds of government and private-run universities in the country now produce some 250,000 fresh graduates each year. This may seem a lot, but not for a country as large as Indonesia, especially when one considers that university graduates are the backbone of the workforce. As Wardiman pointed out, at this rate, it would take 25 years, an entire generation, before university graduates account for a decent 10 percent of the workforce.

Many foreign and local companies are already recruiting foreign managers and skilled workers because they cannot find Indonesians capable of filling various positions where skills are necessary. With the advent of free trade, Indonesia will be forced to open up its labor market even more to foreign workers. When this happens, Indonesians, whether holding college degrees or not, can no longer count on the protective shield afforded by the current tight regulations on hiring foreign workers.

Most preparations for the upcoming free trade era have concentrated on getting our business sector ready. Scant attention is given to preparing our workers, and judging by the high rate of unemployed graduates, even much less on our education sector. It is time to change that now.

We do not have an entire generation before the free trade era comes, when we will be counting most on our college graduates to make our country competitive. Our country has been known for flaunting its wealth through wasteful programs. But of all the waste the country makes, wasting the talent of university graduates is the least we can afford.