In a stark warning of bad times to come, the Indonesian Employers Association, or Apindo, said on Friday that unemployment was likely to increase by between 800,000 and a million this year, not 400,000 as forecast by the government.

Apindo chairman Sofyan Wanandi said the association was predicting that up to one million people would face redundancy as demand for the country's exports shrank. The worst affected sectors, he said, were likely to be producers of primary commodities and export-orientated industries, like textiles and footwear.

Wanandi said the forecast was based on an informal poll of members and that no estimates for individual sectors were available.

Speaking in the House on Thursday, National Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said that if Indonesia's only managed to achieve 4.5 percent growth this year, then open unemployment would rise to 8.6 percent, meaning that 9.82 million people would be jobless.

"People on temporary contracts will be particularly affected by layoffs. Permanent staff will also be affected if the domestic and overseas markets continue to shrink," he said.

To avoid major layoffs, Sofyan urged the government to expedite labor-intensive development projects, particularly infrastructure.

"Infrastructure gives the country added value in addition to providing jobs. Through building better seaports and roads, the government can help the real sector speed up the flow of exports." Paskah said.

Separately, Singgih Witarso, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Footwear Association, or Aprisindo, said the association expected that some 30,000 workers employed in the footwear sector, out of a total 1.5 million, could lose their jobs this year.