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ollowing a high poverty rate and an increasing Gini coefficient ratio, Jakarta'€™s employment rate in 2014 was significantly reduced, with many job seekers struggling to find work because they lack the required skills, according to a city official.

Manpower and Transmigration Agency head Priyono revealed that there were 63,680 job vacancies in the city last year, but only 17,125 job seekers found employment.

'€œThe number of job seekers was high last year, as many as 190,102, but only 17,125 were employed,'€ Priyono told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Tuesday.

He said the data was collected from each district office by counting the number of residents applying for yellow employment cards. Many jobs roles, such as civil servant positions, require such cards from candidates before they can apply.

Priyono said the figure in 2014 was not much of an improvement on the previous year. According to him, in 2013, there were 44,163 job vacancies in Jakarta, but only 17,121 of 170,166 job seekers were employed.

However, 2012 was a better year, with 25,341 out of a total 140,000 job seekers finding employment.

'€œMany job seekers could not find work because they lacked the skills and experience,'€ Priyono said.

Earlier in the year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Jakarta branch revealed that the number of poor residents in the city had significantly increased year-on-year to 412,790, or 4.09 percent of the total population in September 2014, from last year'€™s level of 371,700, or 3.72 percent of the population.

The city'€™s Gini coefficient ratio increased to 0.436 in 2014 from last year'€™s 0.364.

Priyono added that the city was providing training for job seekers at seven designated centers '€” three in East Jakarta and one in West, South, North and Central Jakarta. In total, he said, the centers could train up to 6,000 people a year.

'€œHowever, not all trainees were employed last year. Only about 70 percent of them were recruited. This year, our target is that at least 90 percent of our trainees are recruited,'€ Priyono said.

Starting this year, he added, the agency would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with various firms to ensure employment. Thus far, the agency has signed MoUs with the likes of retailer Carrefour, automobile firm Astra Group and bus manufacturer Hino.

Further, Priyono said the budget allocation for the training centers this year was Rp 118 billion (US$9.1 million), significantly lower than the Rp 284 billion of 2014. According to him, the allocation was lower because last year his agency required extra funding to build a training center.

'€œWe will give training according to demand. This year, demand is mostly for automobile industrial workers, machine technicians and bus drivers,'€ Priyono.

Separately, Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said that starting this year, trainees would no longer be required to have education, certain skills or experience prior to enrolling at one of the centers.

'€œTherefore, more trainees may join our training center in the hope that more of them will be employed,'€ Ahok said after a meeting with Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri in South Jakarta recently, adding that Jakarta was at the forefront of implementing such a system in Indonesia.

Training centers in other areas usually require a minimum education level of either junior or senior high school.

Meanwhile, Minister Hanif said Jakarta would be a model and that other areas would follow suit.

'€œWorker training centers in other areas will also implement similar systems, where trainees are no longer required to have education or previous experience. The centers will teach all the skills required,'€ Hanif said.