VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): Increase in number of people from the productive age group of 16-65 years, or demographic bonus, must be absorbed by the world of work to avoid demographic disaster in future, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin stated.

"The demographic bonus will only be a blessing if the productive age population can be properly absorbed into the labor market. If not, the large number of workforce will actually turn into a demographic disaster," Amin noted at the Manhalul Ma'arif Islamic Boarding School in Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), on Friday.

The vice president made the statement while inaugurating the 2022 Community Vocational Training Center (BLK) and the Community BLK Independence Festival that was also attended by Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah, West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zulkieflimansyah, and religious scholars.

"Indonesia will experience a demographic bonus in which the population of the productive age group or the workforce dominates and exceeds the population of the non-productive age group. We must take advantage of this condition as a great opportunity to carry out various development accelerations," he remarked.

However, Vice President Amin stated that the goal of accelerating progress would not succeed if it were to solely depend on the population factor. Reliable human resources are deemed crucial in order to win the global competition.

"For this matter, the government continues to encourage various strategies to build Indonesia's HR with the quality and capability to adapt to all the changes and disruptions that follow, one of which is through the existence of this Community BLK," he stated.

According to the vice president, expanding the establishment of Community BLK to reach all corners of the country will help people from the workforce age group to access job training.

"Apart from reducing the unemployment rate, strengthening and expanding vocational training through Community BLK is expected to create skilled and competitive workers," the vice president remarked.

Currently, 3,757 Community BLKs have been built throughout the country, he explained.

"I lauded the minister of manpower and all related parties for having supported the implementation of the program," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah stated that from 2017 to 2022, the Manpower Ministry has allocated programs and budgets for government assistance through the construction of Community BLK spread throughout Indonesia.

"Until 2022, the number of Community BLKs that have been built reached 3,757. On this occasion, we invited 846 institutions that received development assistance and equipment in 2022 to attend and inaugurate the completed infrastructure and ready to conduct training programs," Fauziyah stated.

The 3,757 Community BLK were classified into the three classes of "Growing," with 1,752 Community BLK that have conducted training very well; "Developing," with 876 Community BLK that have organized training and established partnerships for training funding and alumni empowerment; as well as "Independent," with 283 Community BLK that were able to produce goods and services and have the ability to support themselves.

The remaining 846 Community BLKs have just been built and inaugurated by Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

"It is proven that in the Mandalika Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the job market and business opportunities are open, but it cannot absorb the local community since they do not have competence according to the job market," the minister pointed out.

Fauziyah cautioned that this condition can disrupt development of the Mandalika SEZ.

In the Mandalika area, the Ministry of Manpower integrates these programs into a manpower ecosystem through an area-based employment opportunity expansion program.

The program was implemented collaboratively by the Ministry of Manpower and the Central Lombok District Government, PT ITDC managing the SEZ, business actors, nine village governments supporting the Mandalika area, as well as various other cross-sectoral stakeholders. (antaranews)