Indonesia’s business and industry sectors have a strategic role in reducing the unemployment rate, according to Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs, Muhadjir Effendy.Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows that Indonesia recorded a 5.86 percent open unemployment rate in 2022, reflecting a slight decline of 0.63 percent compared to 2021. “The government is not working alone to realize the achievement as business and industry sectors have a very strategic role in our endeavor to reduce the unemployment rate,” Effendy said during an International Workers’ Day commemoration event in Jakarta on Monday. One factor that has contributed to reducing the unemployment rate has been Indonesia’s good investment performance amid global economic uncertainty, he added. To accelerate investment performance in Indonesia, the government has decided to implement an industrial downstreaming policy, whose benefits are now being enjoyed by industry and business actors, he said. “We can also manage our natural resources by ourselves and realize a multiplier effect from our industry downstreaming activities in the manpower aspect, including transforming skilled manpower in areas that we were not adept at earlier,” Effendy added. He said that the downstreaming policy has bolstered efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through the optimization of natural resource use. On the same occasion, the minister highlighted that cooperation between the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) must be enhanced, primarily to serve Indonesia’s 3.6 million new workers every year. “I believe that cooperation between Kadin and Apindo is a strategic choice to ensure that Indonesia’s workforce will grow as a workforce that is productive, skilled, and employed,” he remarked. baca-jugaRelated news: Most Indonesian workers belong to “sandwich generation”: ministerRelated news: Solidity key to face Industrial 4.0 manpower challenges: minister
Source: Antara News Agency