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New problem for Indonesia; Celios says sea sand exports will lead to rising unemployment

Source
Tempo - October 3, 2024

Tempo.Co, Petir Garda B, Jakarta – The Indonesian government's decision to resume the export of sea sand continues to draw criticism. Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), said the resumption of sea sand exports will actually create new problems: rising unemployment.

"Sea sand exports actually risk creating unemployment in coastal areas," Bhima said in a written statement on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.

According to Bhima, vacuum sea sand mining will harm many human resources because it uses machines without much human labor.

"The model of sea sand mining with suction dredgers and barge transportation is more capital-intensive, not labor-intensive," he said.

The use of machines in sea sand mining, he said, has no relation to boosting the country's economic growth. If the government pushes ahead with the mining, he fears it will have a negative impact on various environmental, social and economic aspects.

"There is no correlation between the export of sea sand and quality and competitive economic growth," Bhima said.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Ida Fauziyah said unemployment is a crucial labor issue in Indonesia as it has a broad impact on economic, social and community welfare conditions.

Based on data from the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) in February 2024, the number of unemployed in Indonesia reached 7.2 million people, with an open unemployment rate (TPT) of 4.82 percent, down by about 790,000 people or 0.6 percent from the same period last year.

"Despite the decline, unemployment remains the biggest challenge," Ida Fauziyah said in a written statement quoted on Monday, September 30.

Despite the decline, Ida considers the unemployment rate to be still quite high as millions in the country are still without work, "not absorbed by the labor market yet".

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1923915/new-problem-for-indonesia-celios-says-sea-sand-exports-will-lead-to-rising-unemploymen

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