Nearly 10 million Indonesian Youths Unemployed, INDEF Researcher Questions Ministry Role

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Senior Researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance or INDEF Didin S. Damanhuri highlighted the injustice in Indonesia over the last 10 years, including the intergenerational one. 

Didin said he was stunned after Statistics Indonesia or BPS released survey results showing that almost 10 million or 9.9 million millennials and Generation Z are not in school or working. 

“There are 10 million Gen Z who do not go to school or work. The question that arises along with the tuition issue is where has the Ministry of Education been these past 10 years? This is an injustice for millennials and Gen Z,” he said on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. 

BPS previously reported that 9.9 million people aged 15-25 years are not participating in education, work, and training. This phenomenon was recorded from the survey results taken in the 2021-2022 period.

From that figure, unemployment is suffered by 5.73 million young women and 4.17 million young men.

Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah said on May 20 that several factors caused the high unemployment rate among Gen Z in 2023, one of which is the mismatch between the graduates’ skills and the labor market’s needs. Additionally, she said the reason for the high unemployment rate is because Gen Z is still looking for work. 

Furthermore, Ida highlighted that the largest contributor to the unemployment rate among Gen Z comes from vocational school graduates. They contribute 8.9 percent of the overall unemployment rate. "Most of our unemployment comes from vocational school graduates due to the mismatch,” she said.

To overcome this problem, Ida said the government has issued Presidential Regulation No. 68 of 2022 concerning the Revitalization of Vocational Education and Training which requires educational and training institutions to adapt to adapt to the industries’ needs.

This regulation also encourages collaboration between relevant stakeholders to provide a competent workforce that reflects the ever-changing needs of the labor market. 

ADIL AL HASAN | ANDIKA DWI

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