REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA  --  The number of laid-off workers in Indonesia dropped to 7,954 in the first semester of 2016 from 8,575 in the same period last year, according to the Manpower Ministry.

"Based on provisional data, there has been a decline in the number of laid-off workers by 621 or 7.24 percent in 2016 compared to the same period last year," Manpower Minister M Hanif Dhakiri said here on Monday.

Data from the ministry's directorate general of industrial relations development and manpower social insurance showed that there were 1,494 cases with 7,954 workers laid off in the first half of 2016. Meanwhile, in the first semester of 2015 there were 126 cases with 8,575 workers laid off.

The minister noted that most of the layoffs in the first semester 2016 occurred in June, with 3,933 workers laid off compared to 1,414 in January, 1,305 in February 1,076 in March, 213 in April and 13 in May of the same year.