REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The unemployment rate until August 2015 was recorded at 6.18 percent, up from 5.94 percent in the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Agency (BPS).

"In the past year, the rate of open unemployment has gone up, with the number of unemployed increasing by 320,000," the agency's deputy for statistical analysis, Suhariyanto, noted at a press conference here on Thursday.

In August 2015, open unemployment reached 7.56 million, up from 7.24 million in the same period last year, he pointed out.

He explained that the rise in the number of unemployed was caused by layoffs and low employment due to an increase in workforce.