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t least 2,000 job seekers have flocked to the multi-purpose hall (MPH) at the Batamindo Industrial Area in Batam, Riau Islands, since Thursday, jostling for the front row.

They were competing for 68 operator positions and two quality control officer positions with metal casting company PT Dynacast Indonesia.

Not all of the job seekers are from Batam. Most, in fact, are migrant workers from North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan, including many fresh senior high school graduates.

“I have only been in Batam for a month. I got the information about the job opportunity from a brother working in this area. That’s why I come here to apply. Who knows whether I will be accepted,” said Yenni, one of the applicants.

Batamindo Industrial Area general manager Tjaw Hioeng said at least 1,000 job seekers came to the MPH every day, although not all of around 68 foreign investors in the area were offering jobs.

“That is the daily scene at MPH. Job seekers are indeed centered there to get information about job vacancies,” Tjaw told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Last February, he said, PT Sumitomo Wiring System, a tenant at the industrial estate, was offering 150 positions.

Unexpectedly, more than 3,000 job seekers applied for the positions, forcing the local authority to close the main street in front of the factory. To prevent this from happening again, the recruitment center was finally moved to the MPH.

The growing number of job seekers in Batam is the result of a high rate of urbanization, as people migrate to the island from other regions in search of better economic prospects.

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the population of the city has steadily increased. The data show that Batam’s population of 824,964 in 2008 grew to 885,503 in 2009, 944,285 in 2010, 992,425 in 2011 and 1,123,690 in 2012.

The latest data show that the 2015 population was 1,164,352, making Batam the city with the highest population growth in the world, according to Demographia, an American consulting firm.

Based on data from the city’s population and civil registry agency, migration contributes around 65 percent to the city’s average population growth of 100,000 per year, while 35 percent comes from childbirth.

Former economic coordinating minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti noted that urbanization in Batam was very fast due to industrialization and modernization in the area. This forced the government to invest more in social facilities rather than on infrastructure for further industrial development.

Being a special economic zone, this development was causing extremely high social pressure in Batam, he said.