The Indonesian government planed to provide 2.6 million new jobs for the workforce this year, in spite of the significant pressure from the global liquidity crisis.

Indonesian Transmigration and Manpower Minister Erman Suparno was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying on Tuesday that 600,000 of the 2.6 million would be work abroad.

The minister said that the government was allocating sizable resources to boost the competitiveness of Indonesia's workforce, including 369 billion rupiah (about US$33 million) for job training, 110 billion rupiah for training in labor-intensive sectors and 30 billion rupiah to support labor networking.

Erman called the government's housing development program, which will consume some 430 million rupiah in 2009, as a key to ensure job creation. "We expect to build at least 50,000 homes and 100,000 homes at the most. If one house can absorb 10 workers, then we can employ at least 500,000 people," Erman said.

Indonesia is also expected to lose 2 million existing jobs this year as immediate fallout from the slowdown in global demand for Indonesian products.

(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2009)