Indonesia jobless

Opinion and Editorial - March 31, 2006
C.G. Moghe, Jakarta
Questions related to the future working population of any developing country (students getting ready to join the millions entering the labor pool every year) must occupy a very large part of the thought process of the leaders of such countries. The President, for example, has to constantly figure out what commitments he has made to the stakeholders, and which ones would be the most critical, since it is something that will impact the very future of the country.
Indonesia, however, can find itself in a somewhat different, if not an advantageous position, in relation to the future addition to the labor pool, if it plays its cards right.
In his state address before the plenary session of the House of Representatives on Aug. 16, 2005, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proclaimed that "During the five years of this government, we are determined to achieve our commitment to halve the open unemployment and poverty. We have set a target to reduce the figure of open unemployment from 9.9 percent to 5.1 percent, while we will also try to reduce poverty from 16.6 percent to 8.2 percent".
But in the time to come, while the country wants its citizens to be fully employed and better cared for, in reality a good number of them may have to fend for themselves after they finish junior high school, since the government's resources will not allow it to help them much beyond the nine years of basic education. When one compares this situation with to rest of the world -- which is girding up for the impact of globalization -- learning new skills and maintaining a competitive edge for the country and its businesses (the major job providers) one cannot help but to ask: Is the future going to be bleak for young Indonesians?
Now it is generally known that foreign investors have not been very active in creating new production units/job opportunities in Indonesia of late, at least in terms of the numbers added each year to the labor pool, as a result of various factors such as availability of better investing alternatives like China.
The future job providers have so far failed in establishing themselves in Indonesia and/or making jobs available to the school-leavers.
It is recognized that Indonesia will be one of the few countries in the world, where the number of young and working age people, as the proportion of the overall population may still be growing over the next 10-20 years.
In general, the workforce is aging across the entire developed world. For example, in the EU, the number of those aged between 50 and 64 (i.e. to be phased out of the active working population within a decade) will increase by 25% over the next two decades, while the population of the USA in the same age bracket will more than double in the same time period. All the developed nations (with a few exceptions) will show a similar trend: A shrinking population of employable people, and an increasing number of people of pensionable age, which means soaring related costs such as health care/pensions. Indeed the aging population will be a big burden on these countries' budgets in the years to come!!
Indonesia, instead of being unduly worried about the bleak future of its younger generation, can try and benefit from this trend of declining population of the working age people in many of the developed countries. How can this be done?
At present, many of the jobless in Indonesia end up as "Overseas Indonesia Workers" (TKI). They start with little preparation as they become part of the world labor market. They can therefore, at best, hope to land jobs as the maids and unskilled construction workers of the world, ready to work for a pittance (in relation to the overall wage structure in the host country, but a princely sum when compared to what they can ever hope to earn in their Indonesian village).
Why not identify those companies, businesses and government bodies, who may have to take care of a section of the aging population in their countries e.g. as pensioners or beneficiaries of old age-related services, usually heavily subsidized and involve them in suitably training the potential TKIs? To mop the floors or cook meals in a hospital (a slightly more skilled job), where the elderly patients are taken care of instead of doing the same job in a residential dwelling in Indonesia (a low paying job)? Or still better, why not train them to take care of the elderly, the sick and the infirm, instead of work just as untrained household help?
The huge demand for Indonesian nurses in the Netherlands and Indonesian maids in Hong Kong/Singapore can amply establish that the average Indonesian can do well as an international worker with diligent work and better supervision and training. The same can apply to other similar skills, which may be in demand outside Indonesia.
The problem can be approached from another angle. The Indonesian government should consider visas for retirees to live in Indonesia, the beneficiaries being mostly ex-Indonesian nationals, who obtained nationalities of other countries during their working life. Such a scheme operated by the Philippines, targets Japanese retirees, who can have maids and household help at a fraction of the cost in Japan and well within the budget of an average Japanese citizen.
Malaysia operates a similar scheme targeting wealthy Asians who can have all the comforts of maids and household help in addition to fairly advanced infrastructure. Indonesia can train the future TKIs to take care of the retirees wishing to settle down in Indonesia. Availability of trained manpower may be a big attraction of retiring in Indonesia.
To the extent the government can involve the corporations and governments from developed countries, to train the Indonesians as specialists to deal with the aging population of the other countries, the problems of one country will end up as a benefit to another.
Such paradigm change would mean that instead of the untrained jobless in Indonesia ending up as "Overseas Indonesian Workers" (TKI) and being paid a pittance, they can very well be the "experts taking care of the aging population (of other countries)" changing their future from an uncertain one to a bright one, in view of the rapidly aging population of the developed world.
The writer has been working for more than 33 years in banking, financial services and projects. He can be reached at cmoghe@indosat.net.id.