JAKARTA – Years of work at a factory enabled Ms Sari Sartika Dewi to enrol to study law at a private university in Karawang, West Java, in 2018.
“I consider my current workplace a stepping stone. I want to make a leap, but don’t know how,” Ms Sari told The Straits Times. “I am aware that thousands of people are seeking jobs. This makes me think twice about moving.” Many young people in Indonesia often find themselves trapped in menial jobs after completing their education.
For train cleaner Niki Andriyawan, 24, who graduated from vocational school, the crowded workforce and tough competition for jobs has led him to “accept his place”. Ms Sari Sartika Dewi earned a bachelor’s degree in 2022 after successfully juggling her full-time job and studies. PHOTO: COURTESY OF SARI SARTIKA DEWI
She added that “a broader industrial policy” that goes beyond the processing of critical minerals and commodities and revitalises labour-intensive manufacturing or builds an ecosystem to allow investment in emerging industries such as semiconductors is necessary. “Almost all high-income countries have advanced through industrialisation, so the key is to strengthen our industrial capacity and competitiveness,” said Mr Bhima, adding that the contribution of the manufacturing sector to gross domestic product must be increased from 18 per cent to 25 per cent.
“To unlock itself from this trap and graduate to a high-income economy, it needs to find additional drivers of economic growth. More importantly, it has to be higher-quality growth.”