| 60 percent of unemployed persons are youngsters |
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Jakarta (Kompas: (02/02/08) Around 60% of 11.6 million unemployed persons in Indonesia in 2007 are youngsters below 25 years old. This shows that our education curriculum and job training failed to meet job market demand. This issue was raised by the chairman of Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association (Apindo) Sofyan Wanandi after he inaugurated automotive training in Bekasi on Friday (1/2). The number of unemployed people keeps on raising every year and vocational school graduates do not possess enough skill to enter the job market. Meanwhile, the training programs held at state-run Vocational Training Center or Balai Latihan Kerja (BLK) is still unable to prepare the youth to work or to create new jobs. This could be seen in their lacking of teachers and their obsolete equipment. Some training centers still use vehicle equipments from the 60’s."High unemployment rate among youngster has reached an alarming level. We need to make a breakthrough to bridge the young work forces and the work market," Sofyan said. He added that the number of unemployed youth in Indonesia is much bigger than that of neighboring countries. In Malaysia, unemployment rate among youngsters only reaches 11 % and in The Philippines it is only 16 percent. A data form the International Labor Organization (ILO), revealed that the number of unemployed youth aged between 15 to 24 years in Asia Pacific, East Asia, and South Asia increased from 74 million to 85 million or 14 percent between 1995 and 2005. ILO Deputy Director in Jakarta, Peter van Rooij, said, aside of improving youth skills and work quality, job training is also necessary to adapt the work force with the job market in middle- and long-term. Moreover it also nurtures entrepreneurship spirit among the work force which allows them not to rely their living on job provider. Job Training
Apindo and ILO have initiated job training pilot project for youngster by involving industry sector between 2008 and 2010. This years’ training will be focused in automotive and retail sectors for vocational school graduates in Java. “This training is aimed at helping young work force to prepare them selves to enter the work market and to create new jobs," Sofyan said. Automotive training will be provided for 75 graduates of technical vocational schools. The cost of the training that reaches Rp 1 billion will be covered by PT Astra International and ILO. Graduates will be given the opportunity to work in Astra’s subsidiaries, such as PT Yutaka Manufacturing Indonesia, PT Showa Indonesia Manufacturing, and PT Astra Honda Motor. Training on retail product marketing will be provided for 100 female graduates from vocational schools in Java in cooperate with some retail companies. |
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