TO UPGRADE WORKERS’ COMPETENCE IN TEXTILE INDUSTRY

he government set target to employ 1 million workers in 2013, to reduce unemployment. In spite of downturn in unemployment figure, the absolute figure was still high due to various factors like the gap between the number of graduates and the need for employees and the gap between the competence of graduates and competence standard set by the industry.

For every 1% growth, the TPT industry would absorb around 10,000 new workers. It was estimated that this year the TPT industry would grow by 5%, mostly by support of new investment in garment industry. Last year, around 100 companies in the TPT industry were starting to operate, mostly recolated garment factories from china.

Data of the Ministry of industry and the Central Statistics Board [BPS] had it that TPT industry employed around 1, 47 million workers in 2011, and increase of 4,78% of total workers which was previously posted at 1.4 million people. This year, a worker in this sector was predicated to increase by more than 1.5 million workers due to realization of new investment in the garment sector.

The secretary General of the Ministry of Industry, Anshari Bukhari, stated in Jakarta on Tuesday [23/4] that he had prepared a number of development and expansion programs which was projected to grow by 6.52% in 2014. The program was revitalization of the Textile Service Units [UPT] through procurement of machines, extension of machinery aid and textile equipments and restructurization of TPT machines by way of price discounts. In addition to that also technical training for Human Resources and counseling of designers and promotion through various expo activities.

Ansari stated that the TPT industry was sustainer of growth of the domestic non oil-gas sector [manufacturing] which needed to be promoted. How-ever, he admitted that the challenges to be faced by the TPT industry in the future was to step up quality of human resources which had been below the standard of industry. Besides Ansari added, productivity of local workers was rated as still low which affected company’s productivity.

Data of the ministry of industry had it that unemployment was posted at 10.9 million people in 2005. The number went down to 7.7 million in 2011. In 2011-2011, economic activities in the formal sector had generated 2.67 million workers so unemployment figure went down and an informal worker was reduced to 1.54 million people. Now formal workers constituted 38.89% and informal workers constituted 60.14% of total productive people.

Ansari again reminded that quality of Indonesia workers in the textile-and –textile industry [TPT] was still low. Therefore trainings would be necessary. The Ministry of Industry, he said, had schemed up plans to set up training centers whereby they could step up their competence. He underscored the importance of stepping up competence of Indonesian workers in jacking up productivity.

Not less important was the effort to consolidate the workforce to make them more competent than they were today. According to Ansari, with the betterment of Indonesian workers’ competence, they did not have to find a job abroad, as they would get better pay at home. “As the nature of the industry is labor intensive, workers skill and competence is an important aspect and must therefore be upgraded by quality” Ansari remarked.

 

 He was also expecting that the Indonesian textile industry was able to contribute 5% to the world’s supply in ten years. He said that Indonesia was not the biggest textile producer but was in the list of top ten producers in the world. Even in ASEAN Indonesia’s raking was below Vietnam which was the number one textile producer country.

Business News - July 26, 2013