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  • Indonesia’s Gen Z Tackles Rising Unemployment and AI Influx: Is the National Internship Program the Solution?

    Indonesia’s Gen Z Tackles Rising Unemployment and AI Influx: Is the National Internship Program the Solution?

    Indonesia is currently experiencing a “demographic dividend” phase, characterized by a surge in the young population. However, this younger generation, primarily Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012), is wrestling with significant employment obstacles.

    Employment Challenges for Gen Z

    By 2023, nearly 10 million individuals from this generation were neither employed nor receiving an education or vocational training, according to data from Statistics Indonesia. This figure, consisting primarily of women, highlights the persistent problems of youth unemployment and skill deficits.

    Furthermore, these individuals must adapt to an increasingly competitive job market, exacerbated by the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to a report from the World Economic Forum, AI’s broader implementation in workplaces is projected to alter approximately 23% of all jobs.

    Indonesia’s Population and Economic Prospects

    Indonesia’s population, which is growing at an annual rate of about 1.11%, is expected to reach 284.4 million by 2025. During the “demographic dividend” decade from 2020 to 2030, Generation Z has become the largest demographic, comprising almost 28% of the total population, or roughly 75 million people.

    Despite this surge, the demographic dividend period offers not only potential opportunities but also significant challenges. If not properly harnessed, it could hinder the country’s economic growth and overall wellbeing.

    In early 2025, a hashtag translating to “Just Escape for Now” gained popularity among young Indonesians, symbolizing a collective urge to seek better opportunities overseas.

    National Internship Program

    To address these issues, the Indonesian government launched the National Internship program in 2025. The Ministry of Manpower reported that the program successfully achieved its target of enrolling 100,000 participants, primarily recent graduates, during its first year. The program is expected to continue in 2026 with an equivalent number of participants.

    Media Wahyudi Askar, the Director of Public Policy at the Centre of Economic and Law Studies, believes that the National Internship Program could expedite the shift towards improved access to formal employment opportunities.

    Questions & Answers

    What is the “demographic dividend” period in Indonesia?
    The “demographic dividend” period refers to the current decade (2020-2030) in Indonesia where Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) has become the most significant population group.

    What are the major employment challenges faced by Generation Z in Indonesia?
    The primary issues include high rates of unemployment, a lack of necessary skills, and changes in the job market due to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence.

    What is the objective of the National Internship program initiated by the Indonesian government?
    The National Internship Program aims to address employment challenges faced by the younger generation by providing them with better access to formal employment. The program enrolled 100,000 participants in 2025, with a similar number expected to continue in 2026.

  • Vietnam unemployment rate peaks since Covid onset

    Vietnam unemployment rate peaks since Covid onset

    Vietnam’s unemployment rate rose to 3.72 percent in Q3, the highest since early 2020 when the novel coronavirus was first detected in the country.

    The rate was calculated among the working-age population, defined as those aged 15-60 for men and 15-55 for women, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

    Vietnam had around 49.2 million workers aged 15 or more in Q3, down 1.9 million against Q2, and down 2.1 million against the same period last year.

    The unemployment rate in the first nine months of this year stood at 2.91 percent.

    The complicated Covid-19 situations significantly affected people’s lives in the first nine months of this year, the GSO said in a report.

    As of September 21, social security relief of nearly VND13.8 trillion ($600 million) was provided to roughly 17.6 million people. This included VND11.4 trillion spent in 23 cities and provinces hardest hit by the pandemic. Over VND5.446 trillion was spent on more than 4.8 million people in HCMC alone.

    More than 136,349 tons of rice from national reserves was distributed among more than 2.4 million households with nearly 9.1 million members.

    By the end of 2020, Vietnam had a population of 97.58 million, with 36.8 percent living in urban areas and the rest in rural areas. The unemployment rate among its working-age population last year was 2.48 percent.

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  • 60,000 file for unemployment benefits in Hanoi

    60,000 file for unemployment benefits in Hanoi

    The number of applications for unemployment benefits in Hanoi as of September 10 has risen 22 percent year-on-year to nearly 60,000 as a fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Last month the Hanoi Center for Employment Services (HCES) received 9,000 applications, down from the monthly peak of 10,000 in June, Vu Quang Thanh, deputy director of the center, said Monday.

    Half the applicants said they were affected by the impacts of Covid-19, he said. The second wave of the disease last month did not have as severe impact as in the second quarter because the government did not impose social distancing, he explained.

    With nearly 4,000 businesses resuming operations last month, the labor market is less affected, he added.

    Hundreds of people queued up for tokens at HCES in Cau Giay District on Monday, and of them, Hao was lucky to get one. The 34-year old mother is now looking forward to the VND2.8 million ($121) monthly support after losing her human resources job in April after nine years of service.

    Tai, a 28-year old man in the queue, said the VND2.5 million unemployment support would be a third of his family’s income after losing his lobby manager’s job at a downtown hotel in May.

    With a baby expected by the end of this month, he now works as a driver for a motorbike ride-hailing company.

    Thanh of HCES said that the number of applications would rise or fall in the remaining months of the year depending on the Covid-19 situation. If there is a surge in the number of cases, 90 percent of businesses would be affected, and monthly applications could double to 20,000, he added.

    In the first eight months, nearly 34,300 companies nationwide suspended business, up 70.8 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office.

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  • Companies, workers struggle as cracks appear in China’s economy

    Companies, workers struggle as cracks appear in China’s economy

    Cracks are opening in China’s mighty economy: investors are backing away from deals, factories are moving abroad and companies are shedding jobs. The world’s second-largest economy is losing steam, hitting its slowest growth in almost three decades last year, and flagging further in recent months. While gross domestic product grew at 6.6% in 2018 – a rate that would be the envy of most nations – China’s efforts to cut its debt mountain have weighed on the economy.

    Private businesses in particular face new hurdles as costs rise and financing becomes harder to come by, while the trade war with the United States has not helped.

    Here is a look at some of the struggles faced by Chinese companies and people:

    Game over for gamers

    Feeding China’s addiction to video games seemed an easy bet for Beijing Yixin Technology, a tech startup behind the mobile game Farm Take Home.

    The game allows players to harvest wheat, raise chickens and plant apple trees – a bucolic refuge from the pressures of urban China.

    But in real life, the tech firm has struggled to find investors.

    “In December our company’s funding ran out, we had an investment lined up, but the money never came through,” said chairman Cui Yi. “This month I arranged another investor, then he backed out too. I think we can’t hold out.”

    His company is not alone.

    Venture capital funding dried up at the end of last year. Total investment in the fourth quarter fell 13% from a year earlier, according to data from Preqin market research.

    Policymakers are partly to blame, pushing a war on debt and financial risk that has cut the funding flowing into investment firms, industry insiders say.

    Another government diktat halted new video game approvals for months – officially due to youth gaming addiction concerns – sending firms like Beijing Yixin into a deep freeze.

    Trade war

    Other companies are facing the fallout from the trade war with the United States.

    More than a handful of exporters have sought to get around US tariffs by building factories outside China, according to a review of public stock filings.

    Others are sending workers home early for Chinese New Year or cutting overtime.

    Last month China’s exports fell.

    “It has hit our profits,” Harry Shih, manager of Runfine Bearings in eastern Zhejiang province, said of the trade war.

    Washington slapped 25% taxes on many types of ball bearings in July. Shih said he had shared the cost increase with his customers, roughly half of whom are from the US.

    “Business is going down for most companies including factories. Like me they have the same problems, profits are going down” as costs rise, said Shih.

    Job crunch

    Official data shows unemployment at a stable rate, rising slightly to 4.9% last month. But independent data paints a different picture.

    In October-December advertised tech positions fell by 20% from a year earlier, after declining 51% in the third quarter, according to data from Zhaopin, China’s largest recruitment website and Renmin University.

    China’s economy “faces downward pressure, and to some extent this pressure will be transmitted to the job market,” said Meng Wei, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planner.

    A lawyer who consults on labour disputes, Guo Xuehai of Beijing Zhonghai Law Firm, said, “there are definitely more employees coming for help than before,” but added this was usually the case at this time of the year.

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  • Most Vietnamese graduates interested in startups: survey

    Most Vietnamese graduates interested in startups: survey

    About 75 percent of Vietnamese graduates have either started their own business or are interested in opening one. A survey released Tuesday by Navigos, a leading provider of executive search services in Vietnam, also found hat 52 percent of fresh graduates want to attempt a startup in the near future.

    One in five respondents, or 22 percent, said they have attempted a startup at least once before. Only 26 percent said that they have no plans for a start-up. The survey polled over 1,600 fresh graduates with less than two years of working experience.

    It found that a high number of fresh graduates are not satisfied with their current salaries, incentives and promotion opportunities.

    On a scale of five, they rated their satisfaction with salary at 2.95, and incentives at 2.99. Long-term development opportunities scored lowest at 2.88.

    Salaries and incentives are important factors for graduates in choosing their first jobs. Seventy percent of respondents selected “income and welfare policies” as one of the top criteria for job selection.

    Compatibility with personal strengths came second at 55 percent, while career prospects and opportunities for development come third and fourth at 53 percent and 52 percent respectively.

    The majority of fresh graduates, 34 percent, make VND5-7 million ($215-300) a month. Twenty-nine percent said their monthly salaries were VND7-10 million ($300-430). Only 12 percent made VND10 million ($430) or higher.

    The survey also found that candidates who are proficient in foreign languages have higher salaries. Only five percent of those whose jobs don’t require foreign language skills earn VND10 million ($430) or higher, while this figure is 37 percent among candidates who can speak another language.

    Young employees changed jobs more frequently, posing a retention challenge for employers. Eighty-one percent of the respondents said that “jumping jobs” helps them avoid wasting time on unsuitable or unsatisfactory positions.

    Forty-three percent claimed that switching jobs helped them gain diverse working experience and expand networks.

    Although young candidates value high salaries and benefit packages when choosing jobs, 57 percent said higher earnings was not the motivation for jumping jobs.

    Of the respondents who’d quit their jobs, 45 percent said the reason was personal plans like education or family issues.

    Four out of ten graduates said that they quit because they didn’t like their daily tasks, while almost one in four said they could not fit in with the corporate culture.

  • Plum food delivery to cut entire staff

    Plum food delivery to cut entire staff

    Food delivery startup Plum has laid off its entire staff, casting doubt on its continued operations in Singapore and its home market of Hong Kong. According to a report, Plum co-founder Desmond Clinton Cheung, who is also the company’s GM, said full-time contracts for all 110 workers, including his own, had been terminated. The company is creating a new structure which would give staff who wish to remain with the company an equity ownership.

    “In the past, they were salaried staff and they would become shareholders,” he said.

    Plum was founded in Hong Kong a year ago and Cheung said it may have grown “a bit fast”.

    Efforts to reduce losses, including laying off 40 staff several months ago, had not worked and Cheung said he believed the new company structure offered an opportunity for the company to continue trading on a more sustainable basis.

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  • Vietnam’s Ha Long casino continues to lose staff on poor business performance

    Vietnam’s Ha Long casino continues to lose staff on poor business performance

    Ha Long’s only casino continues to lose employees due to a number of reasons, including its persistent losses. Hoang Gia Joint Stock Corporation (RIC) in Ha Long, Vietnam’s resort city, which runs the Casino Gaming Club, said the number of employees has fallen by 275 now compared to the beginning of the year.

    It has less than 1,200 employees remaining. Last year 514 had quit.

    The main reasons, the company admitted, are the casino’s poor business and competitors’ talent attraction policies.

    Revenues increased by 23 percent in the first nine months of this year to VND187 billion ($8 million), but it lost VND14 billion ($597,555).

    Another problem for the casino is the sluggish progress of transport infrastructure works in the region, such as Van Don airport and the Ha Noi – Ha Long Highway, which prevents more foreign tourists, mainly from China, Japan and South Korea, from coming here.

    The company targets revenue and profit after tax this year of $15.9 million and $1.5 million. Casino operations are expected to account for around 63 percent of the revenue with the rest generated by hotels and villas the company owns.

    The owner of the company is Khai Tiep International Investment Limited, registered in the Cayman Islands.

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  • Korea’s jobless rate rises in September

    Korea’s jobless rate rises in September

    South Korea’s jobless rate rose slightly in September due to a fall in employment in the retail and restaurant sectors, with poorer-than-expected job creation continuing, government data showed Friday.

    The unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent last month, up 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the highest rate for September since September 2005, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.

    The number of employed people reached 27.05 million in September, up 45,000 from the same month in 2017, according to the data.

    The unemployment rate for young adults — those aged between 15 and 29 — was 8.8 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from the previous year.

    The employment rate stood at 66.8 percent in September, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier, with the corresponding figure for young people at 42.9 percent, up 0.7 percentage point over the cited period.

    The number of newly added jobs improved last month, after staying below 10,000 per month for the second straight month. The retail segment saw a reduction of 100,000 jobs in September compared with a year earlier, and the lodging and restaurant sector also shed 86,000 jobs last month.

    The manufacturing sector also saw the reduction of 42,000 jobs last month.

    In contrast, the healthcare and IT sectors added 133,000 and 73,000 jobs, respectively.

    “A slowdown in the reduction of jobs in the manufacturing sector helped boost job additions, but any sharp rise in job creation is unlikely for the time being,” an official at the statistics agency said.

    The number of unemployed reached 1.02 million in September, hovering over the 1-million mark for the ninth straight month.

    In June, the government cut its job creation target to 180,000 this year from 320,000.

    Since May, the government has been implementing a 3.9 trillion-won ($3.69 billion) extra budget largely to create jobs.

    The push comes as President Moon Jae-in has called for all-out efforts to create quality jobs.

    The supplementary budget is the second of its kind under the Moon administration. Last year, the government set aside an 11 trillion-won supplementary budget that focused on creating high quality jobs.

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  • Indonesia Sees Unemployment Drops by 0.28 Percent

    Indonesia Sees Unemployment Drops by 0.28 Percent

    Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Economist Dzulfian Syafrian positively welcomed the decline of the open unemployment rate (TPT) in February 2017 as much as 0.28 percent.

    This figure is lower compared to that of February 2016 with 0.17 percent. He also claimed that the drop indicates the increase of labor absorption.

    “However, the increase of workforce as much as 6.11 million people compared to August 2016 or 3,88 million compared to February 2016 has to be given a special attention from the government since it is a double-edged sword,” he said on Friday, May 5.

    Dzulfian explained that the high number of productive citizens is a good capital for development.

    “Nevertheless, if the government cannot manage it well, it can be a burden instead of an advantage,” he added.

    He further said that when this high number of citizens are unemployed, the government have to bear the consequences of a higher number of crimes, radicalism, and others.

    Therefore, Dzulfian urges the government to focus on creating employment opportunities and enhancing the quality of employment. He added that one of the policies that the government can implement to improve employment issues is the investment-oriented economy.

    “Economic and political stability and infrastructure support are two big agendas that the government needs to prepare in order to secure investment and improve the quality of employment for the people.”

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  • Vietnam unemployment rate at 2.3%

    Vietnam unemployment rate at 2.3%

    The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said in its report that the ministry has focused efforts on looking for solutions to develop the labor export market as the domestic market is having trouble.

    Around 1.6 million people were offered jobs last year, a 1% year-on-year increase. Of which some 1.5 million employees earned jobs in the country, up 0.3%, and 126,000 were sent overseas as guest workers, up 9.6%. The unemployment rate was 2.3%, broken down into a high rate of 3.18% in urban areas and 1.86% in the countryside.

    However, there are still many shortcomings in creating jobs, especially for young adults and fresh college and university graduates. The third quarter of last year saw 202,000 with university or higher degrees unemployed. The number of students enrolled in vocational schools was still limited.

    In addition, the number of Vietnamese working overseas illegally after the expiration of their work contracts has declined but still quite high in South Korea and Taiwan.

    The number of workers sent overseas for guest work in 2016 grew by over 9%. However, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam warned there should be stringent regulations towards Vietnamese employees working overseas. Otherwise, potential and major markets like Japan and South Korea will reject Vietnamese workers in the future.

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  • Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    Indonesian unemployment rate down in 2016

    The Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said in August, 2016, the country had 7.03 million jobless people among 125.44 million of labor force.

    “Compared with August, 2015, the number of working people rose 3.59 million and the number of jobless people declined 530,000. The number of workforce, therefore, increased 3.06 million in August, 2016,” BPS chief Suhariyanto told reporters here on Monday.

    Suhariyanto said the number of working people rose in almost all sectors during the one year period excepting in the construction sector where the number of working people dropped 230,000 people or 2.8 percent.

    “The highest increase in number was recorded in the public service sector in which there were 1.52 million more working people or an increase of 8.47 percent, followed by an increase of 1.01 million or 3.93 percent in the trading sector, and 500,000 or 9.78 percent increase in the transport, warehousing and communications sector,” he said.

    Among the 118.41 million working people, the largest number was in the agriculture sector reaching 37.77 million or 31.9 percent, followed by the trade sector reaching 26.69 million or 22.54 percent and the service sector 19.46 million or 16.43 percent, industrial sector 15.54 million or 13.12 percent, the construction sector 7.98 million workers or 6.74 percent, the transport sector 5.61 million workers or 4.74 percent, the financial sector 3.53 million or 2.98 percent and mining sector 1.83 million or 1.56 percent.

    BPS said in August, 2016, Labor Force Participation Rate (TPAK) was 66.34 percent or every 100 working age people , around 66 were actively employed. Unemployment rate in the same period was 5.61 percent.

    The highest unemployment rate by provinces was in Banten reaching 8.92 percent , followed by West Java at 8.89 percent. The lowest unemployment rate was in Bali at 1.89 percent and Bangka Belitung at 2.6 percent.

    “Tourism sector contributed to low unemployment rate in Bali and Babel,” Suhariyanto said.

    He said in August 2016 , there were 50.21 million people or 42.4 percent of the working people in formal sector having business with permanent workers of 68.2 million.

  • Korea’s jobless rate stays pat at 3.1% in November

    Korea’s jobless rate stays pat at 3.1% in November

    South Korea’s unemployment rate stayed pat in November compared with the month before as gains in the manufacturing and hospitality sectors were offset by losses in the agrofisheries and retail segments, a government report showed Wednesday.

    According to the report by Statistics Korea, the rate stood at 3.1 percent last month, unchanged from October and the year before. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for last month reached 3.4 percent, also flat from the 3.4 percent figure tallied for the previous month. The number of newly created jobs, however, dropped to 285,000 last month, from 348,000 new positions offered in October.

    “Manufacturing continued to fuel growth, along with the hospitality sector, and communication and information technology services, but sharp losses in agrofisheries and to a lesser extent retail affected the job market last month,” said Sim Won-bo, head of the agency’s employment statistics division.

    He said agrofisheries shed 168,000 positions last month from 124,000 jobs lost the month before, while sluggish economic conditions hurt small-time retailer jobs in the country. The official said the loss in agrofisheries was mainly due to rainy weather.

    The manufacturing sector created 190,000 more jobs, with the hospitality sector and communication and information technology services adding a combined 182,000 positions.

    The unemployment rate for people between the ages of 15 and 29 reached 8.1 percent in November, up from the 7.4 percent reading a month earlier, which was the lowest level reported since May 2013.

    The statistical office said the jobless rate for young people usually goes up toward the end of the year as there is a rush to seek employment. The jobless rate among young people has always been higher than the national average.

    The latest report then showed the employment rate for people between 15 and 64, which is used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to measure employment, stood at 66.3 percent last month, up from 66.2 percent the month before.

    The so-called labor underutilization indicator dipped to 10.3 percent last month from 10.5 percent in October, according to the report.

    The indicator is based on guidelines made by the International Labor Organization and reflects the number of people who are underemployed and those who currently hold part-time jobs but want full-time work. It also counts unemployed people who have given up looking for work not by choice but due to other circumstances.

    The finance ministry said unseasonable weather conditions adversely affected jobs created last month. “The amount of rainfall directly impacted hiring in certain sectors,” it said. “If agrofisheries are not calculated, more than 400,000 jobs were created.” Total precipitation hit 127.8 millimeters, the second highest reading since November 1973.

    The ministry added that while the jobless rate for young people rose, the employment rate edged up 1 percentage point on-year to 41.8 percent, which is a positive development. For the future, it said exports may remain weak but a rise in domestic demand will help create new positions in the coming months.

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  • Indonesia’s Unemployment Fee Will increase as Financial system Slows

    Indonesia’s Unemployment Fee Will increase as Financial system Slows

    Indonesia’s unemployment price elevated in February, in response to the newest knowledge from the Central Statistics Company, or BPS, amid slower financial progress.

    BPS’s February 2015 knowledge, launched on Tuesday, confirmed there have been 7.45 million unemployed individuals out of the full workforce of 128.three million within the nation. Because of this the unemployment price stands at 5.81 %.

    As compared, in February final yr the variety of unemployed individuals stood at 7.15 million, representing 5.7 % of the whole 125.32 million workforce.

    Nevertheless, in comparison with the earlier knowledge acquired in August 2014, the unemployment fee declined, though the actual numbers have been nonetheless on the rise.

    In August 2014, 7.24 million individuals have been recognized as unemployed, representing a 5.94 % of the whole 121.87 million individuals.

    BPS additionally launched knowledge that confirmed Indonesia’s financial progress slowed to four.71 %, the weakest it has been in additional than 5 years.

    “Therefore, within the absence of forthright stimulus from each financial and monetary fronts, for Indonesia to regain some progress mojo, there isn’t a different approach than for it to imbibe the bitter drugs of reforms,” stated Wellian Wiranto, an economist at OCBC Financial institution in Singapore.

    “From slicing bureaucratic purple tape to liberating up of land for infrastructure tasks in addition to boosting labor productiveness, there are a lot on the record of issues the Jokowi administration should do to inch nearer to the 7 % goal it has in thoughts,” he stated.

    Franky Sibarani, the chief of the Funding Coordinating Board (BKPM), stated the federal government would keep on with its weapons with a goal to create as much as two million new jobs this yr. “We’ll push for extra job availability,” he stated.

    Nonetheless, knowledge from BKPM confirmed that though complete funding elevated by 16.9 % year-on-year to Rp 124.6 trillion ($9.55 billion) within the first quarter, job absorption declined. Direct funding within the nation absorbed 315,229 staff within the first three months of this yr, a decline from 470,510 within the fourth quarter of final yr.

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