Capacity of Job Training Centers Still Unsatisfactory

Investment growth in the regions has increased demand for more and more skilled workers, however, local administrations have not been able to meet this demand. One of the reasons is the inadequate capacity of government-run job training centers to produce skilled laborers.

Mudhori, the director of textile, leather, footwear and chemical industries at the Industry Ministry, said on Tuesday (12/7) that the highest demand for qualified workers came from textile, garment and footwear factories.

Garment and textile industries required around 30,000 workers, while footwear required between 10,000 and 20,000 employees. Mudhori said that (the local administration) could not provide this due to a shortage of skilled laborers.

He cited as an example garment producer Pan Brothers, which operated in Central Java, needed some 20,000 skilled workers, but the province could only provide between 2,500 and 3,000 local employees. Recently a shoe producer from South Korea, which planned to invest US$150 million, also faced difficulty in finding 15,000 suitable workers.

According to Mudhori, the government had already established a number of job and education training centers, as well as an industrial community academy, to produce professional workers.

The number of enrollees, however, exceeded capacity. More than 800 people had enrolled at the Textile and Textile Products Industrial Community Academy, but the institute could only accommodate 350 students.

Separately, Darmwansyah, an official in charge of the job training and productivity development program at the Manpower Ministry, said that he had been asked to provide skilled workers in the textile industry. In 2016, most requests had been for factory operators. Seventeen Manpower Ministry training centers were aiming to recruit 5,000 workers and provide them with on-the-job training this year.

Private course involvement

A province with high investment growth, Central Java, nevertheless is unable to cope with the problem of providing enough skilled labor. In 2015 alone, there were job openings for 160,000 people. To bring into balance supply and demand for skilled workers, Teguh Wika Bambang, head of the provincial Manpower, Transmigration and Population Agency, said that the agency had asked privately run courses to help.

The imbalance had been occurring over the past two to three years, following growing interest from factory owners to relocate their businesses from Jakarta and its surrounding areas to Central Java.

The growth of the textile industry has compelled the agency to cooperate with some 1,200 private courses and institutes to train workers in this sector. The provincial government has allocated tuition funds.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said there were still problems with manpower supply in the country's provinces. The central government, however, had supported regional economic development through fund transfers amounting to Rp1,700 trillion ($129.8 billion).

source Kompas, Wednesday, July 13, 2016