Speaking at the 2024 BPJS Ketenagakerjaan Paritrana Award in Jakarta on Thursday, Effendy remarked that the current investment is still not optimal in absorbing workforce with no orientation towards labor-intensive but capital-intensive and technology-intensive.
The minister pointed out that the influx of the latest technology will help improve efficiency and productivity processes but also erode the potential of the Indonesian workforce with the automation process, especially in the manufacturing sector, which will pose a threat to the absorption of labor in Indonesia.
"The increase in investment cannot guarantee to be proportional to the workforce absorption. If we cannot control the transfer of technology, automation, especially with artificial intelligence, then we will be in danger," the minister emphasized.
On that occasion, he called on the Ministry of Manpower to ensure the government's support for the interests of the Indonesian workforce not only by reducing the open unemployment rate but also by paying attention to productivity levels.
According to the minister, most workers are not yet productive amid several jobs available. For instance, their capacities are not in accordance with their current job.
"There are many job offers focused on eradicating the unemployment rate. However, we have not paid attention to creating a productive worker," Effendy noted.
Earlier, data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) showed that Indonesia's open unemployment rate (TPT) had continued to decline in recent years. Data as of August 2020 showed a TPT of 7.07 percent, which then dropped to 6.26 percent in February 2021.
The national TPT dipped to 5.83 percent in February 2022, recorded at 5.45 percent in February 2023, and continued to decrease to 4.82 percent in February this year.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna V, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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