CHIEF MINISTER: EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNTIES STILL LIMITED

Surabaya, E Java, Dec 7 (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said employment opportunities in Indonesia were still limited and therefore the unemployment rate in the country remained high.

"The new workforce is growing at a faster rate than employment opportunities," he said during a visit to a senior high school in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday.

He said the number of people joining the work force in Indonesia reached two to three million a year.

This had increased unemployment in the country although the rate had dropped from 8.46 percent in 2008 to 8.14 in 2009, he said.

"Although the rate of unemployment has dropped in percentage, the absolute number remains high, namely around 9.26 million," he said.

Therefore, he said, creating employment would be one of the government's targets for improving the welfare of the people, which would be implemented through various priority development projects.

With regard to the government's program for the first 100 days of its term in the field of education, Agung said it was to match education with the needs of the industrial world.

"The success of the program will be inseparable from coordination and synergy among stakeholders," he said.

He said efforts that had been carried out so far had to be improved by the ministries concerned or institutions that produced manpower such as polytechnic institutions, vocational schools and courses.

"The goal is matching education with employment," he said.