The government is willing to increase competency of Indonesian workers
in the frameworks of increasing competitiveness in the global work market.
Large number of Indonesian population is a production factors potency in
industrial sector. On the other hand, incompatibility of competency with industrial
demand and relatively low productivity are the weaknesses of human resources of
Indonesian industries. In this case, the National Professional Certification
Board (BNSP) has a very important role in the framework of creasing competency
of Indonesian workers.
Secretary General of Industry Ministry, Ansari Bukhari, Wednesday
(12/26), reminded that in year 2015 Indonesia will join the ASEAN Economic
Society where there will be free flow of goods and services. Ansari said that
unemployment rate in 2005 reaches 10.9 million people, down to 7.7 million in
2011. In 2011 - 2012, economic activities or formal sector has created 2.67
million workers, therefore unemployment rate decreases 1.54 million people.
Number of formal workers reaches 38.89%, while informal workers 60.14%.
Even though it is declining, absolute number of unemployment is quite
high. This condition is due to, among other thing, gap between number &
competency of graduates and employment demand. Therefore, development of
competency-based education according to industrial demand must be prioritized.
He admitted that productivity of Indonesian workers is relatively low. This is
one of the crucial issues toward 2025 where Indonesia is predicted to become
the 10th biggest economic power in the world.
Meanwhile, concerning high absolute number of unemployment, Ansari said
that development of labor-intensive industries will continue to become government’s
priority for 2013. The reason is that labor-intensive industries can absorb
large number of workers and contribute one-third to industrial growth in
Indonesia. Currently, from 108 million workers working in the processing
industries, around 14.6 million work in labor-intensive industries, such as
textile and textile products (TPT), footwear, furniture, food and beverages,
and small and medium industries. Ansari took an examples of investment of
footwear industry at USD 10 million which is able to absorb workers of up to
10,000 people.
Therefore, the government will continue developing labor-industries. To
protect existence and development of labor-intensive industries, the Industry
Ministry has attempted so that labor-intensive industries could receive
postponement of increase of Provincial Minimum Wage (UMP) of 2013. Even, his
party has proposed Income Corporate Tax (Income Tax Article 21) incentive and
Corporate Tax (Income Tax Article 25) incentive for labor-intensive industries.
Income Tax Article 21 incentive which is normally paid by corporations is
expected to be reduced in accordance with non-taxable income.
Ansari reminded again that the challenge that must be faced by the
industries in the future are human resource quality which has so far been
considerate not in accordance with industrial demand. In additional to that,
productivity of local workers is relatively low so it affects company’s
productivity. But, worker productivity cannot be perceived from the worker side
only. Worker productivity is affected by at the least three factors, namely
skill, technology, and society’s purchasing power.
Unskilled workers are mainly due to the education system which is unable
to produce many high skilled graduates. The fact is that quality education up
to university level is very expensive so it is unaffordable to many people. (E)
Business News - January, 02,2013
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