Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Manpower Ministry has said skill mismatch, a lack of alignment between workforce skills and the needs of businesses and industries, is the main factor behind Indonesia’s relatively high number of educated unemployed.
“The unemployment among university graduates is caused by a mismatch between job competency requirements and the skills graduates possess, as well as low digital literacy and soft skills,” the ministry’s Workforce Planning and Development Agency (Barenbang) Head Anwar Sanusi said here on Thursday.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded 1,033,182 unemployed people with university education backgrounds (Diploma IV, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees) in Indonesia as of May 2023, accounting for around 14.31 percent of the 7.22 million total national unemployment figure.
Sanusi said another factor is the slow growth of formal jobs compared with the rising number of fresh university graduates.
“Formal job growth has not kept pace with the number of new graduates, compounded by graduates’ tendency to wait for specific formal jobs,” he said.
He also said the rapid pace of technological development and industrial transformation has not been fully matched by the education and training system, leaving many graduates without the competencies needed by the job market.
Meanwhile, Manpower Ministry Public Relations Bureau Head Faried Abdurrahman Nur Yuliono added that limited work experience, weak soft skills, and lack of skill certification are also factors affecting low workforce absorption.
“The sector seeing this challenge the most is the technology-intensive industry sector. In some industrial areas, such as Batam, incoming investment requires very specific qualifications,” Yuliono said.
Therefore, Yuliono said the ministry continues working to address the mismatch between education graduates and industry needs.
Some steps taken include aligning curricula with skill needs, strengthening industry involvement in the learning process, and improving educators’ skills.
“Furthermore, we are expanding work practice and industry experience opportunities for students, along with regular evaluations based on evolving workforce needs, so graduates have skills relevant to the job market,” he said.
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Translator: Arnidhya, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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