Stimulation Only Reduces 0.5% of Unemployment

Sumber :

VIVAnews - International Labour Organization (ILO) predicted that in mid 2009, the number of open unemployment will rise by 8.87 percent due to the crisis.

"It is assumed that the estimation does not include stimulation package from the government," said ILO Deputy Director Peter van Rooij during a discussion on Global Crisis Impact Toward Employment in Indonesia on Friday, Jan 23.

Van Rooij said that the stimulation package will reduce the increasing rate of unemployment by 0.5 percent to 8.34 percent in August 2009. "This will be a tough year for the government although Indonesia is only slightly affected by the crisis compared to other countries," he said.

According to Van Rooij, the government will have a difficult task because this year, two million people will lose their jobs even though the government had stated that there would be 2.5 million jobs created through a stimulation package. "In addition, the falling prices of commodities will cause export-based industries to collapse," he said. 

However, van Rooij was optimistic that with enough supports from the government, Indonesia will soon recover from the crisis. According to him, this is the perfect time to invest in infrastructure and environmentally-friendly industries. 

Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono