Cak Imin: Unemployed bachelor degree holders apprehensive

Semarang, NU Online
The number of unemployed bachelor degree holders had reached an apprehensive level, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar (Cak Imin) said here on Sunday.

"Many of our bachelor degree holders does not have sufficient skills to work in the field effectively," Cak Imin said as quoted by Antara, adding that the phenomena might be the result of the fact that university curriculum failed to fully met demands from the job market.<>

The minister said the total number of the unemployment in Indonesia until February 2010 had reached 8.5 million, about 7.41 percent of the total of 116 million workers.

Fifty percent of the 116 million workers in Indonesia, he added, were elementary school graduates while the rest were high school, vocational school and university graduates.

Apart from the high rate of unemployment of bachelor degree holders, the minister also expressed concern about the difficulty to find a job for religious school graduates, like graduates of Islamic boarding schools.

Therefore, he said, his office planned to work together with Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia and the Nadhlatul Ulama (biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia) to formulate a special curriculum to help students gain working ability for employment.

"In 2011, my office, the education ministry and the religious ministry, will work together in managing the national education budget. We intend to adjust education for students from the religious schools with the latest demand of the labor market," Cak Imin said. (dar)