Wasted talent

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.