South Sulawesi is sending 2,000 semiskilled workers to work overseas this year to help decrease unemployment and improve social welfare in the province.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post here Monday, head of the South Sulawesi manpower office Saggaf Saleh said as many as 900 nurses, chefs, drivers, engine operators and gardeners had already been sent to various countries, including Australia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Brunei Darussalam.
"We see this as a solution to reduce unemployment," said Saggaf, adding that some 372,000 were still unemployed in the province.
South Sulawesi's total population is about 8 million.
Saggaf expressed hope that the overseas jobs would generate prosperity among the workers' families while increasing the province's foreign exchange earnings.
Saggaf said all workers would get jobs in the destination countries as their recruitment and training had all come at the request of those countries' governments.
For instance, South Sulawesi coordinated with the central government to recruit and train 500 nurses to leave this month for Japan, all of whom are receiving intensive training in medicine and language, he said.
While Japan organized its own training for the workers, many workers leaving for other countries also receive training from native instructors, he added.
The workers, according to Saggaf, are all competent nurses, chefs, drivers, welders or plantation workers.
Saggaf said that for protection purposes, the provincial government had sought coordination both with the Indonesian embassies and the governments of destination countries.
"We have to make our migrant workers' safety and protection a top priority. We are preparing a memorandum of understanding with the embassies and the countries' governments," Saggaf said.
According to Saggaf, nurses sent to Japan are paid around Rp 15 million (US$1,630) per month and those in Saudi Arabia receive Rp 10 million.
Gardeners, mostly elementary school graduates, and those employed in Malaysian oil palm plantations are paid Rp 900,000 per month, higher than the provincial minimum wage set at Rp 760,000 a month this fiscal year.
