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Textile jobs shrink 7.5 percent in early August, ministry says
The Industry Ministry noted that jobs in the textile industry were continuing on a downward trend in early August after it entered contraction territory in July, the first time since August 2021 at the height of the pandemic.
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Workers produce knitwear on March 6, 2020 at Rajong Binong Jati Center in Bandung, West Java. The Indonesian Textile Association said at the time that the domestic textile industry was constrained by the suspended delivery of raw materials and machine parts from China due to COVID-19 restrictions. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
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he Industry Ministry said on Thursday that employment in the textile industry had decreased 7.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 957,122 workers according to data for early August, in keeping with the shrinking trend over recent years and mass layoffs.
“The number of workers in the textile and apparel industries in 2024 experienced a decline compared to 2023,” the ministry’s textile, leather and footwear director Adie Rochmanto Pandiangan told a virtual discussion, as quoted by CNN Indonesia.
Adie pointed out that the drop in textile jobs had been going on for years, and that the industry had once employed 1.24 million workers in 2015.
Meanwhile, employment in the apparel industry dipped 0.85 percent yoy to 2.91 million workers as of early August. The apparel industry had improved over the past decade in terms of jobs with a marked increase since 2015, when it employed 2.16 million workers.
“We can see the market situation if we connect [employment in the sector] with layoffs, etc., it is on a decline,” Adie said.
Read also: Manufacturing contraction a ‘warning’ sign for policymakers
A survey by the National Federation of Trade Unions (KSPN) in July showed that around 13,800 textile workers had been laid off in the first half of this year, CNN Indonesia reported.
