# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The World Bank report " East Asia Pacific at Work: Employment, Enterprise and Well-Being" mentions that unemployment among the country's youth aged 15 to 24 is at an unusually high level. However, this is not a new phenomenon. A characteristic of Indonesia has been that the unemployment rate is highest for people between the age of 15 and 24, far above the country's national average as freshly graduated students from universities, vocational schools and secondary schools have difficulty finding their place in the workforce.

According to the report, approximately 20 percent of Indonesia's young men and one third of the young women are unemployed nor go to school. The total number of young men aged 15 to 24 in Indonesia is estimated at 20.5 million, while the total number of young women aged 15 to 24 is 20.2 million.

Amid robust economic growth, unemployment rates in Indonesia have fallen sharply in recent years. In 2006, 10.3 percent of the nation's labor force was counted as unemployment. By 2014, this figure declined to 5.7 percent (equal to 7.2 million people). However, unemployment among junior high and high school graduates were highest, at 7.4 percent and 9.1 percent respectively.

The World Bank warned against this current condition as the high level of youth unemployment can lead to social unrest, thus impacting negatively on the country's future economic prospects and limit the productive potential of Indonesia as a whole.

Female youth unemployment is one or two percentage points higher than male youth unemployment. Although female unemployment has declined more rapidly than male unemployment, gender equality (as in most countries) is an issue in Indonesia. Despite considerable progress has been made in several key areas (education and health), women are still more likely to work in the informal sector (twice as much as the amount of men), or in poorly remunerated occupations and are paid less than men for similar work.

The report also questioned the Indonesian government's minimum wage policy (which has risen in recent years, much to the dislike of businesses). According to the report these minimum wage increases do more harm to women with fewer skills, young workers, and recent entrants to the labor market. The report does not question the existence of a minimum wage but the key is to have uniformity and predictability regarding the wage increases. Preferably, the minimum wage should be kept at a relatively low level to accommodate unskilled workers' employment prospects.

Despite allocating 20 percent of the country's state budget to education, the report claims that Indonesia has not invested enough in pre-primary and primary education to ensure people have the skills that will make them life-long learners.

‹ Back to News Columns

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Youth Unemployment in Indonesia: A Demographic Bonus or Disaster?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
High youth unemployment is one of the threats that is being faced by Indonesia. Indonesia has a young population as roughly half of the total population is below thirty years of age. This means that the country contains a potentially large workforce.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Economists, policymakers and business writers alike hold their breaths on the first Friday of every month in anticipation of the Labor Department's much-discussed Employment Situation report.

The monthly releases take stock of who's employed, who isn't, who's actively looking for work and who has thrown in the towel. The figures are unquestionably helpful but indisputably imperfect.

It's difficult to pin an average or a percentage to a problem that hits individuals on such a personal level. Northern Virginia's Cathy Webb, for example, was just a number in the monthly labor reports when she was laid off as a mortgage broker in 2008 and spent the rest of that year battling a bacterial meningitis infection.

"Everybody thinks the Washington, D.C. area would be a great place to get a job," Webb says of her local job market. "Of course it is. Everybody in the world thinks that. And that's why it's so competitive and so hard to get a job."

RELATED

Webb's layoff was counted as a job separation in the Labor Department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and, as she got sicker and became unable to actively look for work, Webb joined the ranks of individuals no longer considered to be in the workforce.

Although the country's U-3 unemployment rate, as it's officially known, currently sits at 5.5 percent (which is considered to be a historically low percentage), that number only accounts for a small subset of Americans - those without jobs who have actively looked for work in the last four weeks.

The Labor Department's numbers, to be fair, aren't designed to get to the heart of each and every individual story. They are impersonal for a reason and provide a great 30,000-foot view of the labor market and its trends.

But the monthly releases don't do justice to stories like Webb's. Months into her recovery, Webb wasn't counted as unemployed. She wasn't counted in the workforce at all. The Labor Department estimates 93 million people lived in the U.S. in May and were not counted as members of the labor force. Some of this group are retired, some are physically unable to work and some have just thrown in the towel on trying to land a job.

Discouraged workers are considered to be among those not included in the labor force. These are the unemployed individuals who have actively looked for a job at some point in the last 12 months but who aren't currently looking "because they believe there are no jobs available or there are none for which they would qualify," according to the Labor Department.

Discouraged workers are a subdivision of "marginally attached workers," who have looked for work at some point in the past year but hadn't in the last four weeks. Of the 1.8 million marginally attached workers in the U.S. in May, 563,000 were considered discouraged workers. But millions of others are out of the labor market and just aren't looking for work, for one reason or another.

Full-time students without jobs are typically not counted as members of the labor force, unless they're actively looking for work. So when Webb decided to enroll in classes at Northern Virginia Community College to pursue a degree in nursing, her efforts still weren't shown in the Labor Department's numbers.

Webb wasn't counted as a member of the labor force until she took a part-time job at a local Giant Foods grocery store as a cashier and floral department employee while she was still in school. This brought her back into the ranks of the employed, even though she only worked late shifts while taking classes.

"It permitted me to have time to study during the day, just as it's permitting me to have time to look for jobs during the day," she says of the part-time job she still holds while looking for a more permanent position in nursing.

Webb graduated with honors in 2013 and later re-enrolled to take paramedics classes to make herself a more competitive job candidate. Now out of school and still an employee at Giant, she today is technically classified as an individual "employed part-time for economic reasons" - as she continues her pursuit of a nursing job in the Washington, D.C., metro area two years after her nursing school graduation.

"People come to me and say, 'Well I would have thought you would have had a job by now.' Like, 'What's wrong with you?' Do you understand the competition and things like that? There are so many factors that go into it," Webb says. "Nothing's wrong with me. This is just the area."

Including marginally attached workers and people employed part time for economic reasons, the unemployment rate in May sat at 10.8 percent. That's down from 11.7 percent in May 2014 but is still nearly double the standard 5.5 percent unemployment rate reported June 6.

And, excluding marginally attached workers, there are still more than 90 million working-age Americans who haven't looked for work in the past year - which makes reading unemployment fluctuations tricky. If a swath of these unattached workers decided to start looking for jobs again, they would boost the unemployment rate (which happened in last month's report). Such an uptick in unemployment would actually be considered a good thing.

"The unemployment rate rose slightly [last month], from 5.4 percent to 5.5 percent, but that was because almost 400,000 people moved back into the labor force," Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, wrote in a research note earlier this month. "Unemployment remains at healthy levels, even as more people are being drawn back into the labor force as the economy improves."

An influx of workers into the labor market contributed to an uptick in the country's recently sluggish labor force participation rate, which measures the number of people in the labor market as a percentage of the total civilian non-institutional population (or working-age individuals who are not on active military duty or in mental health facilities or jails).

The labor force participation rate in May sat at 62.9 percent, up slightly from April's 62.8 percent. That rate hasn't moved much since hitting 62.7 percent in September, its lowest reading since February 1978.

And despite headlines each month about the number of jobs that have been created and the number of open positions waiting to be filled, the country's unemployment landscape has yet to return to pre-recessionary levels after six years of recovery. The unemployment rate in November 2007 - the month before the Great Recession officially began - sat at a mere 4.7 percent (compared to 5.5 percent in May.)

There were almost 7.2 million individuals classified as unemployed in November 2007 (compared to the nearly 8.7 million unemployed individuals in the labor force last month). And only 79 million Americans were considered not to be participants in the labor force (compared to the nearly 93 million classified as such today).

Opportunities for employment have undoubtedly surged from recessionary lows, but six years after the Great Recession officially ended, the U.S. still hasn't caught up to pre-recessionary unemployment levels. And that's bad news for underemployed workers like Webb.

"It's sad. It's disheartening. But I keep sending resumes out," Webb says. "I'm not sure what the answer is, except to just follow the trends and to stay on top of things and find ways to get yourself in the door. And that's hard, but at some point it's got to be worth it."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unemployment Indicators Only Tell Part of the Story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Economists, policymakers and business writers alike hold their breaths on the first Friday of every month in anticipation of the Labor Department's much-discussed Employment Situation report. The monthly releases take stock of who's employed, who isn't, who's actively looking for work and who has thrown in the towel.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of the main issues discussed in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week was the bitter fact that the world economy is not creating enough jobs, particularly for young people.

Unemployment is one of the biggest issues facing us today, and we can'€™t rely on growth alone to fix it.

In developed countries, sluggish recovery in the wake of the crisis has left employment well below 2007 levels, with six to seven million fewer jobs in the US, UK and euro area alone, according to a Standard Chartered Global Research report, '€œMaking economies work'€. Youth unemployment has gone up, and more unemployed people are out of work long term.

Emerging markets have coped better, shrugging off the Great Recession, with China alone adding 60 million non-agricultural jobs since 2007. Yet, even these markets are not creating the right jobs sufficiently fast. As growth slows, there is concern that job creation will slow, too.

Unemployment locks people in poverty. It makes us less able to generate economic growth in future, as people lose skills and become unemployable. It perpetuates inequality, with a disproportionate amount of wealth owned by a small minority of the population. And it affects social stability: the Arab Spring is a potent reminder of the wider stress in society that can be caused by high youth unemployment.

How do we create more jobs? Clearly, stronger economic growth is part of the answer, and the good news is that 2014 promises to be a better year for the global economy. Europe is pulling out of recession and the US economy is accelerating.

Meanwhile, the cyclical factors that have hampered job creation since 2007 '€" such as the economic fall-out from the financial crisis and fiscal tightening '€" are dissipating. This includes the legacy of uncertainty which has seen companies shy away from investing and hiring.

Growth, however, is unlikely to be enough. More direct policy measures are needed to address the underlying structural and demographic issues stalking the world'€™s labor markets.

In the last couple of decades, developed economies have suffered from a succession of '€œjobless recoveries'€.

An aging population is part of the problem, as is the fact that '€" as economies have evolved '€" large groups of workers have become stranded with the wrong skills, or in the wrong place. Though likely to increase overall employment in the long term, technological innovation, in particular, has driven out routine, middle-skilled jobs in developed economies, leading to a '€œpolarization'€ of jobs.

In these markets, more work now needs to be done to retrain workers who were previously employed in sectors that have lost jobs, such as construction. Governments have to encourage people to work until they are older and '€" even more urgently '€" reduce long-term unemployment among the young to prevent young people from dropping out of the labor market altogether.

More flexible labor markets would help, as would policies aimed at raising university-level education. A 2012 study by McKinsey Global Institute predicted that advanced economies would have to raise the number of young people finishing university by two and half times to fill the projected gap in demand for high-skilled workers.

Emerging markets face their own challenges. By 2030, 95 percent of the world'€™s additional work force '€" or around 550 million people '€" will come from these economies. But after years of strong growth, the pace of job creation is slowing and not enough of the new jobs are good, well-paid ones.

Part of the reason why emerging markets are set to dominate the world economy over the next few decades is their so-called '€œdemographic dividend'€ '€" the huge projected increase in their populations of working age. But in order to tap into this demographic boom, emerging markets must create a sufficient number of productive jobs, and ensure that the workforce has the skills needed for those jobs. Clearly, there is still some way to go.

In fact '€" according to research by the International Labor Organization '€" most of the jobs created in emerging markets over the past few years have been in the informal sector, with low pay and a lack of adequate employment rights and benefits. The challenge to educate and train people, as well as to create enough good jobs to absorb labor from the land and from unemployment, remains huge.

Emerging markets urgently need to raise productivity and the quality of jobs, but this will only be possible with greater investment in education alongside market reforms that encourage businesses to take on more workers. Education levels remain abysmally low '€" especially in south Asia and Africa where the labor force is growing the fastest. More worryingly, public spending on education has fallen in many markets, including in India '€" a trend which must be reversed.

As in the developed world, youth unemployment is an urgent and growing problem '€" more than 85 percent of the world'€™s young people live in emerging markets.

Every country in the world shares the job creation challenge and it is one we cannot afford to ignore. The World Economic Forum at Davos provides a timely opportunity for global policy makers, regulators and businesses to ask ourselves what we are going to do about it.

The writer is Standard Chartered chief executive director and CEO of Wholesale Banking

You might also like :

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unemployment is a global issue and growth alone won'€™t fix it

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of the main issues discussed in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week was the bitter fact that the world economy is not creating enough jobs, particularly for young people. Unemployment is one of the biggest issues facing us today, and we can'€™t rely on growth alone to fix it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Despite rapid economic growth in the Philippines in recent years, unemployment remains a persistent problem for the sprawling Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people.

Under President Benigno Aquino, in office since 2010, unemployment has fallen. The latest figures show the rate at 6.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year, down from 7 per cent a year earlier. But progress has been uneven and the Philippines still has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the Asean region.

One reason is that job creation has struggled to keep pace with an ever-expanding population. In three of the past five years, the number of people entering the job market has been greater than the number of jobs created.

The conundrum highlights the difficulty of spreading the benefits of economic growth and suggests they have yet to trickle down to more deprived areas.

Participation in the labour force remains relatively low. Only about 65 per cent of the population aged 15 and above is looking for work, one of the lowest levels in the region. This compares with 78 per cent in Vietnam, 72 per cent in Thailand and 68 per cent in Indonesia.

This is partly explained by the high value set on further education in the Philippines: young Filipinos typically spend some time in college before entering the labour market, contributing to the lower participation rate. Others in the region go to work earlier.

Another factor may be the low quality of jobs available. Last year, just 58 per cent of workers - in both formal and informal employment - were in what were described as paid jobs. Of the rest, 28 per cent were self-employed, with no guaranteed income, and 11 per cent worked on family-owned farms or other businesses where they typically receive food and lodging but no actual cash, according to official statistics.

Benjamin Diokno, an economist at the University of the Philippines and former budget minister, says this relatively large number of unpaid workers - about 4 million people - "bloats" the ranks of the employed and makes unemployment appear less serious than it is.

More from the Financial Times:

Easing Philippine FDI inflows raise doubt
Philippines holds rates amid economy woes
Philippines remittances under threat

Such unpaid workers are not the only ones feeling held back.

In a government survey, 18 per cent of workers said they would like to work longer hours or get an extra job. Only 35 per cent of these worked 40 hours or more a week.

In an effort to mirror the success of its Asian neighbours, the Philippine government is seeking to improve the quality of jobs available by ramping up employment in manufacturing, according to FT Confidential Research, an investment research service at the Financial Times. But it has had little success so far, hindered by issues such as higher wages, limited infrastructure and red tape, which make the country less competitive than its Asean peers.

Read More Euro zone unemployment hits 3-year low - but don't get out theflags yet

Only 16.5 per cent of workers were in industrial jobs in the second quarter, according to the latest statistics.

The country's uneven employment market has traditionally led millions of Filipinos to seek better-paying jobs overseas. One out of every 10 Filipinos works abroad, sending billions of dollars in remittances home, helping to drive the country's consumption-driven domestic economy - but doing little to promote employment.

Jeremiah Opiniano, a researcher at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, points to central bank data showing that families of overseas workers spend most of their disposable income on food, household goods, eduction, medical expenses and debt repayment. Just 6.7 per cent goes to savings and investment.

Little wonder that job creation cannot keep up with population growth.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Philippines struggles with unemployment despite economic growth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Despite rapid economic growth in the Philippines in recent years, unemployment remains a persistent problem for the sprawling Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people. Under President Benigno Aquino, in office since 2010, unemployment has fallen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's unemployment rate was steady at 3.4% for the third consecutive month in February 2016, but remained the highest since November 2013.

Seasonally-adjusted rate was also stable at 3.2% (January 2016: 3.2%).

Maybank IB Research expects unemployment rate to average 3.5% in 2016, from 3.2% last year.

Total labour force increased at a slower pace +1% year-on-year to 14.7 million while employment growth moderated slightly to +0.7% year-on-year to 14.2 million.

The rise in the number of unemployed decelerated to +9.7% year-on-year to 506,000 in February compared with +11.4% year-on-year in January.

On a month-to-month basis, all the numbers of labour force, employment and unemployed increased by +0.4%, +0.3% and +1.0% respectively.

The Labour Force Participation Rate moderated slightly to 67.6% in February 2016 from 67.7% last month.

Workers retrenchment in March-April 2016 were dominated by the manufacturing sector. Intel Malaysia plans to cut about 10% of the 13,500 workers in both Penang and Kulim manufacturing plants, in line with Intel US' announcement on plans to reduce its global workforce by 11% of its entire workforce of about 107,000.

Megasteel Sdn Bhd (subsidiary of Lion Group) issued 200 factory workers a 24-hour notice of termination on April 1, 2016. In March 2016, British American Tobacco (BAT) announced the closure of its manufacturing plant, affecting 230 employees.

The freeze on new foreign workers intake has caused concerns for various employers and business associations, especially from the manufacturing, construction and plantation/agriculture sectors.

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) reported that 84% of manufacturers were facing shortage of labour. Also, operating costs has increased for manufacturers as some have to run on overtime or even outsource parts of their operations due to lack of manpower.

The Malaysian Fruit Farmer Association said that drought and shortage of manpower had caused fruit production to fall and indirectly driving up local fruit prices. Members of the Free Industrial Zone, Penang Companies' Association (Frepenca) which consists of 70 local and multinational corporations in the semiconductor and electronics industries are considering lowering investments in Malaysia due to the freeze on foreign labour.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unemployment rate in Malaysia stable at 3.4%

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's unemployment rate was steady at 3.4% for the third consecutive month in February 2016, but remained the highest since November 2013. Seasonally-adjusted rate was also stable at 3.2% (January 2016: 3.2%). Maybank IB Research expects unemployment rate to average 3.5% in 2016, from 3.2% last year.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summary 1: Youth Unemployment in Indonesia: A Demographic Bonus or Disaster?

# data[].attributes.subject
Summary 1: Youth Unemployment in Indonesia: A Demographic Bonus or Disaster?

# data[].attributes.body
According to the news article, half of the total population in Indonesia are young people below thirty years age. Therefore, this country has a potential large workforce. However, the unemployment in shows that approximately 20% of the Indonesian which is men and one third of young woman. Moreover, as in the amid robust of economic growth, the unemployment issues in Indonesia had fall sharply. Unfortunately, by 2014, this figure had declined to 5.7% which equal to 7.2 million Indonesian. The world Bank also had given a warning notice regarding the current situation which is the high level of unemployment. This is because, the unemployment issues in a country could bring a lot of negative impact on the country economic future and would affect the number of criminal cases in Indonesia. The unemployment in people would bring problem to the economy costs there will be drop in tax revenues and higher welfare or budget deficit. Other than that, female youth unemployment also in a higher percentage which is two percent higher than the male youth unemployment. This proved that gender equality is still an unsolved issue in Indonesia that had also affected the unemployment rate in Indonesia. However, when the number of unemployed people were increasing or the longer they are without work the more money the government has to shell out.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summary 2: Unemployment Indicators Only Tell Part of the Story

# data[].attributes.subject
Summary 2: Unemployment Indicators Only Tell Part of the Story

# data[].attributes.body
Based on the news article, it claims that the standard unemployment measures do not reveal the real country’s unemployment problem. It stated that, to point an average or a real percentage to this unemployment problem would probably hits individuals on such a personal level. Cathy Webb, who was battling with a bacterial meningitis infection was laid off as a mortgage broker in 2008 and it was counted as job separation in the Labor Department’s which is considered as individual that are no longer part of the workforce. While the country's U-3 unemployment rate is currently at 5.5 percent, that figure only accounts for a small subset of Americans which for those who have actively searched for work in the last four weeks. Despite monthly headlines touting the number of new jobs generated and open vacancies waiting to be filled, the country's unemployment rate has yet to return to pre-recessionary levels after six years of recovery. However, six years after the Great Recession ended in U.S, it still has not intrigued to pre-recessionary unemployment levels. in my opinion, this is not good for the underemployed workers like Webb. This is because, the spending power of an unemployed person decreases drastically which in return affects the economy adversely.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summary 3: Unemployment is a global issues and growth alone would not fix it.

# data[].attributes.subject
Summary 3: Unemployment is a global issues and growth alone would not fix it.

# data[].attributes.body
According to the news article, to solve unemployment issues we cannot rely on the growth in economic alone. This is because, the world economy growth is not creating enough job opportunity especially to the young people. The news stated that according to a Standard Chartered Global Research study titled 'Making Economies Work,' slow recovery in developed countries has left employment far below 2007 levels, with six to seven million fewer workers in the US, UK, and euro area alone. Moreover, China alone had added 60 million non-agricultural job since 2007 even though these markets are not creating the right jobs sufficiently fast. Therefore, people are trapped in poverty due to unemployment. Also, it had resulted in the lost of people’s skills and talent in their field and become unemployable. To address the underlying structural and demographic issues stalking the world ‘s labor markets more direct policy measure is needed. Other than that, emerging markets needs to increase productivity and the quality of jobs because youth unemployment is a growing problem as more than 85% young people of the world live in emerging markets. In my opinion, every country faced the same job creation problem, however the country must pay extra attention to the unemployment issues as it also helps in the country economic growth as the demand for goods and services in the country also becomes excellent.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summary 4: Philippines struggles with unemployment despite economic growth

# data[].attributes.subject
Summary 4: Philippines struggles with unemployment despite economic growth

# data[].attributes.body
Based on the news article, unemployment remains one of the main Philippines problem despite the rapid economic growth in recent years. In the second quarter of 2015, the figures show the rate at 6.4% down from 7% a year earlier. However, Philippines still faced the highest rate of unemployment in ASEAN region. This is because the job creation has failed to strive with the pace of expanding population. The number of people in the country are increasing more the job opportunity. Therefore, the labour force participation rate continues to be low as only about 65% of the population at the aged of 15 and above was looking for job. Other than that, the lower participation rate also because of the young Filipinos usually further their study before entering the labour market. Furthermore, the low quality of jobs also factors of the low job opportunity in the Philippines. Based on the Philippines unemployment rate graph, the graph was fluctuated from 2008 which 7.4% and decrease by the year of 2015 with 6.6% rate. Therefore, in my opinion, Philippines must gear up their economic strategy as unemployment issues are so vital to the point this country hold a record as the highest rates of unemployment in the ASEAN region.

# data[].attributes.headline
Summary 5: Unemployment rate in Malaysia stable at 3.4%.

# data[].attributes.subject
Summary 5: Unemployment rate in Malaysia stable at 3.4%.

# data[].attributes.body
According to the news article, the unemployment rate in Malaysia were at steady pace which is at 3.4% for the third month in February 2016 hence remain the highest since November 2013. In the 2016, Maybank IB Research expects unemployment rate to average 3.5% from the last year rate which is 3.2%. Moreover, the total labour force had increased at slower pace annually by +1% to 14.7 million while employment growth moderated to +0.7% annually to 14.2 million. Then, the rise in the number of unemployment declined to +9.7% annually to 506000 in February compared with +11.4% annually in January. After that, all the number of labours of force, employment and unemployment increased by +0.4%, +0.3% and +1.0% respectively. In addition to this, the labour force participation rate decreases slightly to 67.6% in February 2016 from 67.7% last month. However, some of the company like Intel Malaysia, Megasteel Sdn Bhd, and British American Tobacco are the one that cause workers retrenchment in March to April as some of them plans to reduce workforce and closure. In my opinion, these would slightly cause the worker to lose their job. So, with the increase rates of unemployment other economy factors are affected such as the income per person, standard of leaving, health cost and poverty.