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View all search resultsCan Indonesia improve its workers’ productivity?
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ith a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$1.11 trillion and 273 million people, Indonesia should have been a major industrial hub in Southeast Asia. But it is not a major player in industrial production nor exports. It lags behind many of its ASEAN peers in many aspects.
Why?
There may be several reasons for the continuous decline in the manufacturing sector, especially in labor-intensive industries. The main reason for this situation is Indonesia’s low-quality workforce. Indonesian workers’ productivity is one of the lowest in Southeast Asia. Most Indonesian workers do not possess skills that are required for industries.
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin recently expressed his disappointment of the low productivity of Indonesian workers.
“One of the criteria for quality human resources is the level of their productivity. If we talk about productivity, especially productivity of workers, we are not the best one in ASEAN,” Ma’ruf said while speaking at the Open University (UT) graduation ceremony in Jakarta on July 21.
According to the 2019 Asian Productivity Organization (APO) Productivity-Databook, Indonesia is in fifth position in ASEAN’s per-worker labor productivity rankings. The book is an annual publication.
Indonesian workers’ productivity stood at $26,000 per worker, while Singapore topped the list with $142,300 per worker. Indonesia lags behind not only Singapore but also Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. These countries have better educational and vocational institutions.
