Regions Lack Skilled Workers

Migration to big cities in Indonesia, especially Jakarta, can be curbed with massive investment and bureaucratic improvements in the regions. However, although large investments have been brought in, the lack of available skilled workers is an obstacle for regions. Many opportunities have gone to waste. Therefore, skilled workers need to be prepared in the regions.

The Central Java administration, for example, has asked the people of the province to no longer work in and around Jakarta. They should improve their skills, especially given Central Java's contribution in 2015 equaled 56 percent of Indonesia's total textile investment.

Central Java Governor Ganjar Prabowo on Monday (11/7) at a halal bihalal (post-Idul Fitri gathering) with officials and civil servants at the Central Java Governor's office, said that investment in the textile industry throughout 2015 had been recorded at Rp4.6 trillion (US$350.2 million), with as many as 188 projects.

"With that many projects, the number of workers absorbed could reach over 80,000 people. The investment does not stop, it keeps on flowing. Because of this, residents that have suitable skills for the industry no longer need to migrate to Jakarta. They can work in their own region," he said. Despite such a big opportunity for workers, Ganjar said that it had turned out to be difficult finding skilled workers. For example, a shoe factory in Jepara regency that needed at least 7,000 workers still could not find sufficient suitable employees.

The low absorption rate of local workers, Ganjar added, could be caused by two things. First, a lack of information on the establishment of new industries in the regions, and second, a lack of skilled workers required by factories.

The new jobs that come with the establishment of new industries can help reduce the high rate of urbanization that takes place as travelers return to the cities after Idul Fitri. The number of Central Java residents that work in and around Jakarta is quite high. In fact, it is estimated that 60 percent of homecoming travelers that return to Jakarta and the cities around it are from Central Java.

An acting official for the Central Java Investment Board, Didik Subiyantoro, said that the low absorption of local workers by industries showed that there were only limited numbers of skilled workers available.

He gave an example of a new textile company in Boyolali regency that needed around 5,000 workers but had not found sufficient candidates after six months. "These kinds of things are challenges for formal schools to prepare more graduates educated in the field of textiles at vocational schools [SMK]," Didik said.

Didik said that in Semarang there were only two vocational schools with specializations in fashion that produced graduates ready to work in the textile industry. Meanwhile, work training centers established by regional agencies and state institutions to train skilled workers in the textile industry were not able to produce sufficient graduates.

In Jakarta, Regional Autonomy Implementation Monitoring Committee executive director Robert Endi Jaweng believes that Indonesia's economy was not yet driven by productive investment, but by government consumption and spending.

"Productive investment impacts on job creation. Unfortunately, we find that there is not yet any synergy between the central and regional governments to create conditions that support incoming investors. The efforts of BKPM [Investment Coordinating Board] and the government are only initial steps that have not been followed up by regional administrations," Robert said.

Separately, Center of Reform on Economics Indonesia research director M Faisal said that investment diversification outside Java did not offer many options in terms of business sectors. Furthermore, natural commodities, which had received the most investment, were now seeing a decline in prices.

Legal threats

The Surabaya administration, East Java, has threatened to file charges against beggars returning to Surabaya despite having been returned to their region of origin.

Tangerang's deputy mayor, Sachrudin, has asked migrants looking for jobs in Tangerang to have skills and not just blind courage.

Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto said that between Idul Fitri and the end of December 2015, the city had recorded 1,216 newcomers, while the population growth rate was 3.10 percent per year.

According to Tangerang Civil Registrar and Demography Agency head Erlan Rusnarlan, every day there were 75 to 100 people applying for new identity cards (KTP).

Depok Civil Registrar and Demography Agency head M Iqbal said that the number of migrants to the city was between 4 to 5 percent of the total population of 1.6 million people.

source Kompas, Tuesday, July 12, 2016