"It means that Indonesia needs to supply 3.7 million skilled workers per year," the minister stated at the ministrys apprenticeship program in Karawang, West Java, on Thursday.
A research of McKinsley Global Institute (MGI) in 2016 showed that Indonesia would need 113 million skilled workers for developing the potential to become the worlds seventh largest economy in 2030.
Hanif noted that in addition to the lack of skilled workers, majority of Indonesian work forces are high school graduates and many of them work in fields that did not match their educational background.
Therefore, the government has involved private sectors to increase the number of skilled workers, through the national integrated apprenticeship program in industries, he added.
"Participants of the program would get the benefit of increasing their working experience, developing working mental behavior, and increasing competence in accordance with market demand. This would become an important asset for someone to get a job or start working independently," he added.
The national apprenticeship, held in cooperation with the Employers Association of Indonesia (Apindo) and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), involving 2,648 companies, is part of the governments efforts to improve its human resource quality.
During the apprenticeship program, industries would facilitate participants with work accident insurance, life insurance, and allowance.
The number of apprentice is expected to reach 163 thousand in 2017, higher than the total apprentice during 2009 to Nov 2016, which reached 169,137 participants only. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
