Yogyakarta aim to give jobs to degree holders

Yogyakarta aim to give jobs to degree holders

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Getting a job was the only thing Dwi Krisdianto wished and prayed
for after he graduated from Semarang's Diponegoro University
school of law in 2001.

The native of Srigading village in Bantul, Yogyakarta sent
countless application letters, but did not get any reply.

"I'm tired of applying for work but if I don't try, what will
I do," the 29-year-old told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said that after graduation, he tried to find work in
Semarang for four months but when he ran out of money and there
was no work in sight, he had to go back to Yogyakarta.

Two years on, he decided to run a poultry business but it went
bankrupt after all the chickens died of bird flu. Now, Dwi still
has no job.

"I wish the government could create jobs so I can work, or
offer unemployed people like me a soft loan to start a business,"
he said.

Yunanto, 28, is a graduate of a reputable private university
in Yogyakarta. After graduating in late 2003, he has applied for
many jobs but with no result.

"I spent a lot of money to study, now that I've graduated,
it's so hard to find work. Even to work in a factory I have to
pay, especially to become a civil servant, you have to pay
millions. How can poor people like me get that much money," he
complained.

Popularly known across the country as a university city,
Yogyakarta has the second highest unemployment rate among
university graduates after Jakarta.

Currently, 232,000 out of the 700,000 people in the province
who are unemployed have university degrees or diplomas.

"The high rate of unemployment among university graduates here
causes serious concern since it's among the highest in the
country," said the Yogyakarta provincial secretary Bambang
Susanto Priohadi.

In Jakarta, he said, the number of educated but unemployed
people reached around 500,000. But for Yogyakarta, a province of
only just over three million people, the figure is very high.
Jakarta is a city of over 10 million people. "Compared to other
big cities, it's a very high rate," Bambang said.

Many of the unemployed, he said, came from universities in
Yogyakarta, although not all of them were originally from the
province. Many of the unemployed people came from other provinces
but opted to stay on in the city, he added.

"Although they've graduated, they have not gone back to their
hometowns and are still staying here, looking for work," Bambang
said.

In order to cope with the problem, he said the local
government was currently inviting investors to develop several
areas like Bantul, Kulonprogro and Sleman regencies.

"Currently, several investors have shown an interest to invest
and in the coming two years, we hope to lower the unemployment
rate among degree-holders by 30 percent," Bambang said.