Tangerang sees increase in job seekers

TANGERANG: Tangerang Manpower Agency announced on Monday the number of job seekers in the regency had significantly increased after the Idul Fitri holiday.

"Normally we receive no more than 200 applications a day for yellow cards, but today around 700 applicants have come in since this morning," manpower placement head M. Marbun said Monday.

According to state regulations, job seekers must obtain yellow cards if they want to apply for work within formal sectors such as industry and governmental institutions.

Marbun said he expected the number of job seekers in the regency to continue to grow for the next two weeks.

"We have been informed there are 16,190 job vacancies available this year, but the number of job seekers will likely reach 300,000," he said, adding that most of the job seekers were fresh graduates.

Last year, the agency registered more than 50,000 job seekers coming to the regency, which has some 3,500 industrial firms. Of that figure, only 35 percent were provided with employment.

The local administration had earlier announced it would impose strict measures for newcomers without proper documents. - JP