Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia's job market improved in August as the jobless rate fell to 7.87 percent from 8.39 percent a year earlier, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced Tuesday.

The number of registered unemployed reached 8.96 million people, out of a workforce of 113.83 million, BPS data showed. The population figure for August was 231.83 million.

In August there were 300,000 less registered unemployed than in February; and 940,000 less compared to August last year, indicating some economic recover, said BPS.

Compared to BPS data in February, almost all eight sectors identified absorbed more workers in August. Agriculture was the exception as it was not the harvest season.

"Due to an annual cycle, in August workers in the agriculture sector usually shift to the trade and construction sectors," said BPS head Rusman Heriawan.

BPS said in August 38.8 percent workers were employed in agriculture, 28.2 percent in the trade sector and 14.1 percent in industry.

The overall job market was still dominated by workers engaging in the informal sector, accounting for 67.86 million people or 64.7 percent of the total workforce. Only 32.14 million people, or 30 percent of the national workforce, were employed in the formal sector.

Rusman said this reflected that 55.21 million workers, or 52.65 percent of the workforce were only graduates of elementary school, or did not even finish elementary school. Only 4.66 million workers, or 4.44 percent of the total labor force, were university graduates.

Critics said Indonesia's education system had yet to provide decent opportunities for children of low-income families to get good education and therefore to find better jobs.

Economist Faisal Basri said a lack of education contributed to the poor conditions of Indonesian workers. He also said to boost the real sector, the government should create a labor law that could strike a balance between industries and workers.

Rusman said workers in Indonesia were forced to engage in the informal sector for a living. "In developed countries unemployed people get living allowances. Here they will die if they don't work."

BPS, which had been attacked by critics for its definition of workers as including those working for an hour a week or more, said the definition followed International Labour Organization (ILO) definitions.

Rusman also pointed out that people who worked less than seven hours a week in August only amounted to 1.31 million out of 104.87 million in the workforce. About 70 percent of workers worked more than 35 hours per week, BPS data showed.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the growth of manufacturing industry had been slow partly because of labor policies. She said they should be improved to boost the performance of industry.

Coordinating Minister for the Eco-nomy Hatta Radjasa said boosting the manufacturing industry would be one of the administration's main priorities over the next five years.