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Textile industry faces layoff storm amid ailing exports
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Workers produce knitwear at the Rajong Binong Jati Center in Bandung, West Java, on June 3, 2020. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
T
ens of thousands of Indonesian textile workers are on the chopping block as the industry faces a steep drop in exports while imported clothing eats away at its domestic market share.
As of October, at least 64,000 workers from 124 textile firms in West Java had been laid off, with almost 10,000 of them losing their jobs after the closure of 18 companies in the region, the West Java Textile Entrepreneur Association (PPTPJB) reported.
Suppliers for some of world’s most prominent apparel brands, such as Nike and Victoria’s Secret, were affected.
The PPTPJB also reported that demand for domestically produced textiles had fallen between 50 and 70 percent since April and projected that the trend would continue into next year.
“The number of laid off workers […] may keep climbing,” PPTPJB chairwoman Yan Mei told reporters at a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Read also: Global layoff storm disrupts Indonesia's tech companies
The textile sector employed some 1.1 million workers in 2020, more than 18 percent of the country’s total employment in medium and large-scale industry, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data show.
