Labour Productivity Key To Indonesia's Economic Growth: Minister

PADANG, Indonesia, Jan 11 (Bernama-ANTARA) -- Indonesian Minister of Manpower Yassierli underscored that low labour productivity remains a significant hurdle to the country's economic growth, reported ANTARA news agency.

"The fact that productivity remains stagnant is unacceptable," he declared during a dialogue with Andalas University alumni in Padang on Saturday.

The Minister pointed out that sectors like agriculture, trade, and manufacturing, which employ a substantial portion of the workforce, exhibit relatively low productivity levels.

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In contrast, sectors such as mining, real estate, and information and communication technology, while employing a smaller workforce, demonstrate significantly higher productivity.

To address this challenge, the Ministry of Manpower has implemented a "triple skilling" vocational training policy, focusing on skilling, reskilling, and upskilling. This multifaceted approach is crucial to adapt to the rapidly evolving demands of the modern industrial landscape.

Yassierli explained that skilling programmes are designed to equip job seekers and recent graduates with the necessary skills to enter the workforce and reduce unemployment.

Reskilling initiatives aim to support workers facing potential job displacement by providing them with the skills needed to transition into new roles.

Upskilling programmes, on the other hand, focus on enhancing the existing skills and competencies of the current workforce, thereby boosting productivity and competitiveness within companies.

A significant 63 per cent of industries have identified a substantial gap between the skills acquired by university graduates and the actual demands of the Indonesian job market, Yassierli emphasised, highlighting the critical need for these programmes.

Yassierli further noted that Indonesia's productivity lags behind that of other ASEAN countries, citing Vietnam as an example.

Research indicates that 10 per cent of Vietnam's workforce graduates from vocational education institutions, a stark contrast to Indonesia where less than one per cent of the labour force has undergone vocational training.

--BERNAMA-ANTARA