ANALYSIS: WHY SO MANY ARE POOR IN THIS RICH COUNTRY?
Debnath Guharoy
The Jakarta Post, March 30, 2010
Creating jobs is job No.1 for policymakers everywhere. Jobs not only keep the wheels of the economy turning, they are perhaps the biggest contributor to peace. Peace at home, peace in the country, peace around the world.
To give credit where it’s due, this government has made laudable progress on the employment front. The creation of jobs from investments in infrastructure development both at the national and local levels has not only helped weather the global storms, they have stimulated a positive environment keeping businesses confident. In turn, the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index has steadily moved up to the all-time high of 124 points at the end of 2009. Not surprisingly, the Roy Morgan Unemployment Monitor hit an all-time low of 6.9 percent at the same time.
BPS, the country’s national statistics bureau, puts the current unemployment rate at 7.87 percent, as at August 2009. The difference in the two sets of numbers have logical explanations.
First, the Roy Morgan survey is conducted in 16 provinces that is home to 86 percent of Indonesia’s population, not 100. It could well be that unemployment in the sparsely populated provinces is much higher than the densely populated ones measured constantly by the continuous survey. The second, perhaps more relevant reason, is that the Roy Morgan monitor is pegged to those individuals 14 years and older who are actively “looking for a job”, not waiting for one to fall into their laps. Regardless of these differences , all measurements available reflect a steady downward trend in the jobless rate.
(...) [artículo aquí]
Debnath Guharoy
The Jakarta Post, March 30, 2010
Creating jobs is job No.1 for policymakers everywhere. Jobs not only keep the wheels of the economy turning, they are perhaps the biggest contributor to peace. Peace at home, peace in the country, peace around the world.
To give credit where it’s due, this government has made laudable progress on the employment front. The creation of jobs from investments in infrastructure development both at the national and local levels has not only helped weather the global storms, they have stimulated a positive environment keeping businesses confident. In turn, the Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index has steadily moved up to the all-time high of 124 points at the end of 2009. Not surprisingly, the Roy Morgan Unemployment Monitor hit an all-time low of 6.9 percent at the same time.
BPS, the country’s national statistics bureau, puts the current unemployment rate at 7.87 percent, as at August 2009. The difference in the two sets of numbers have logical explanations.
First, the Roy Morgan survey is conducted in 16 provinces that is home to 86 percent of Indonesia’s population, not 100. It could well be that unemployment in the sparsely populated provinces is much higher than the densely populated ones measured constantly by the continuous survey. The second, perhaps more relevant reason, is that the Roy Morgan monitor is pegged to those individuals 14 years and older who are actively “looking for a job”, not waiting for one to fall into their laps. Regardless of these differences , all measurements available reflect a steady downward trend in the jobless rate.
(...) [artículo aquí]
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