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View all search resultsGovt urges businesses to hire fresh graduates amid stubborn jobless rate
The senior economy minister has called on Kadin to help the government tackle unemployment by boosting jobs in the private sector, including by easing entry-level requirements so around 1.5 million fresh graduates can get a foot in the door each year.
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People visit the booths of participating companies on Aug. 19, 2025, during a job fair in Jakarta. (Antara/Muhammad Rizky Febriansyah)
T
he government has appealed to the private sector to create more jobs and relax requirements for entry-level positions as the labor market grapples with an annual influx of approximately 1.5 million new graduates.
Speaking at the national leadership meeting of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on Monday, Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto highlighted the critical bottleneck, saying that rigid criteria for prior experience effectively barred fresh graduates from entry.
“When you advertise a job, you write one year or two years of experience [...], so those who want to enter the workforce are rejected first," he said on Dec. 1, as quoted by Bisnis.com.
The open unemployment rate eased to 4.85 percent in August from 4.91 percent a year earlier, yet the jobless population remained a substantial 7.46 million, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data. The August rate also marked a reversal from the latest low of 4.76 percent recorded in February, when 7.28 million people were unemployed.
Airlangga urged Kadin to respond actively by “accepting the best students, including Generation Z, and giving them the opportunity to work”.
Read also: Rising temp jobs, jobless youth strain RI’s job market
Data from the Investment and Downstream Ministry show that realized investment as of September had reached Rp 1.43 quadrillion (US$86.2 billion) of the Rp 1.9 quadrillion full-year target.
