REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NUSA DUA -- The creation of three million new jobs per year is necessary for Indonesia to maintain its current unemployment rate, Chairman for the Labour Division of the Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO) Harijanto has said. Harijanto made these remarks at a plenary sitting in the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) 16th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Nusa Dua, Thursday. 

Harijanto noted that the Association strives to prepare the workforce to fill in the gaps in the education system and vocational skills training needed by the industry by actively encouraging all company members to create apprenticeship programs and provide training in the workplace. "However, our (APINDO) effort to improve the skills of the labour force is facing challenges as during the last two years, Indonesia only created 2 million jobs. In fact, we need to create at least 3 million jobs per year to maintain the unemployment rate at the current level," he remarked.

Director General of ILO Guy Ryder said that globally, countries are struggling to create jobs due to the sluggish movement of the world's economy. "So what we have to do at the global level, I think, is we need to get the world economy moving more quickly again," he told Antara.

With regard to education and vocational training for workers, Ryder believes it is extremely important to prepare laborers with adequate skills training, especially within the ASEAN Economic Community framework. "We think the ASEAN Economic Community has the capacity to generate more jobs, and we think 14 million jobs can be created, but you need to have the skills to bring those jobs in," he stressed.

Meanwhile, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked the relevant ministries and state-owned companies (BUMN) to cooperate in establishing millions of vocational schools and vocational training centers. "We want the establishment, en masse, of vocational schools and training centers, even if it is only one thousand, two thousand, or 10 thousand of them. We need millions of them," Jokowi said while chairing a limited cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The president ordered the Ministry of Higher Education and Culture and the BUMN to work jointly to set up vocational schools and vocational training centers and encouraged the private sector to take part in the program. "The private sector is also expected to take part in this program, particularly in vocational training, so that it can be introduced in other regions as well," the President stated.

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