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Businesses pin hopes on vocational education

The private sector is hoping that the government’s recent focus on reinvigorating vocational education can help reduce unemployment and increase workers’ skills

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, November 18, 2017

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Businesses pin hopes on vocational education

T

he private sector is hoping that the government’s recent focus on reinvigorating vocational education can help reduce unemployment and increase workers’ skills.

Indonesian Workers Association (APINDO) executive director Agung Pambudi said vocational education could be the key in equipping the youth with the necessary skills for the job market.

“They could be educated through vocational education and apprenticeships, so that they are ready when the opportunity comes,” he said recently.

The government launched a national apprenticeship program last year, which aims to upgrade workers’ skills through internship programs.

The pilot program was launched in Karawang industrial zone in West Java, with 2,648 firms participating.

The program was estimated to have included more than 200,000 workers as each firm pledged to employ 100 workers through internships.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, officially unemployment stood at 7.04 million workers as of August this year, up from 7.03 million in the same month last year, despite the unemployment percentage decreasing slightly from 5.61 percent in August 2016 to 5.5 percent in August 2017.

The Indonesian workforce, meanwhile, increased by 2.09 percent to 128.06 million when compared to August last year. Indonesia also recorded 2.61 million new jobs as of August this year compared to the corresponding period last year.

National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Bambang S. Brodjonegoro, said previously that the latest job creation data was still within the average government target of 2 million new jobs annually over a five-year period.

The national mid-term plan has set the government the target of creating 10 million new jobs between 2015 and 2019. It also tasked the government with reducing the unemployment rate to between 4 and 5 percent by 2019.

Despite the government’s recent efforts toward improving vocational education, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) executive committee for industrial relations Suprayitno warned that the government had to swiftly update vocational school (SMK) teaching materials to keep up with the pace of industry.

The snail’s pace in updating SMK teaching material, he argued, had contributed to the high number of SMK graduates that were unemployed.

BPS data revealed that SMK graduates were among the highest contributor to unemployment as 11.41 percent of unemployed people had an SMK educational background in August, increasing from 11.11 percent in August 2016.

“There is a mismatch in the SMK curriculum with industry demand. For example, SMKs that specialize in automotive still teach how to fix engines from the 1970s, while there has been many improvements since,” he said.

Meanwhile, National Economic and Industry Committee (KEIN) deputy chairman Arief Budimanta expressed his optimism that employment would increase because of the increased contribution from the industrial sector.

The industrial sector contributed 17.01 percent out of 121.02 million people that were in employment as of August 2017. The figure rose from 13.12 percent recorded in the same period last year.

“This is a good opportunity for our industry,” he said.

He also pointed to international events that would be held in Indonesia such as the Asian Games and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings, which he hoped would also create many new full-time and temporary jobs.

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