Decent work for youth

Companies to tackle youth unemployment through apprenticeship programme

The world is facing a growing youth unemployment crisis, including Indonesia. In many economies, young people are 2.8 times likely to be unemployed than adults but in Indonesia youth are 4.6 times more likely to be unemployed than their adult counterparts.

News | Solo, Central Java, Indonesia | 02 November 2016
Students of the apprenticeship training programme in Solo, Central Java
The world is facing a growing youth unemployment crisis, including Indonesia. In many economies, young people are 2.8 times likely to be unemployed than adults but in Indonesia youth are 4.6 times more likely to be unemployed than their adult counterparts.

Therefore, high-quality apprenticeships are critical importance in dealing with youth unemployment issues. Apprenticeship systems that combine workplace-based as well as off-the-job training have proven to be successful in promoting learning and skill formation as well as facilitating employment by building bridges between the worlds of education and the world of work.

We have benefited from the positive result of this programme. Almost 80 percent of the apprentices were recruited by the companies as they were proven to have better working skills. This helps the local government dealing with youth unemployment issue."

Sumartono, Head of Manpower Office in Solo
From the employers’ perspective, apprenticeship provides firms with young employees who have mastered the skill set necessary for a given role within the firm. The Indonesia Employers’ Association (Apindo) has shown interest and is keen to address apprenticeship issues by continuously raising the awareness of its members so that a more robust system could be put in place to develop the skills of Indonesian youth.

Apindo has recently joined with the Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) to encourage apprenticeship system among the companies. Apindo since then has been actively promoting the apprenticeship programme at the provincial level. One of the recent promotional activities was held in Solo, Central Java, in October. An apprenticeship workshop was conducted there, attended by around 50 participants representing companies from hotel, automotive and retail sectors.

The apprenticeship could be the contribution of the employers to reduce unemployment; yet at the same time benefiting the employers by having skillful workers who are matched with needs of the companies."

FX Sri Martono, Apindo’s Head of Training Programme
Sumartono, Head of Manpower Office in Solo, expressed the commitment of the local government to support the apprenticeship programme. “We have benefited from the positive result of this programme. Almost 80 percent of the apprentices were recruited by the companies as they were proven to have better working skills. This helps the local government dealing with youth unemployment issue,” he said in his opening remarks.

The apprenticeship programme was not only beneficial for the local government, but also for the employers. FX Sri Martono, Apindo’s Head of Training Programme, admitted that the apprenticeship programme has helped, in some extent, tackling skill mismatch that were commonly faced by the industry.

“The apprenticeship could be the contribution of the employers to reduce unemployment; yet at the same time benefiting the employers by having skillful workers who are matched with needs of the companies,” he added.

The visit to Solo Techno Park, government vocational training center, and the Technical Academy of Industrial Engineering (ATNI), provided an opportunity for the participants to learn more about the curriculum and readiness of the education institutions to collaborate with the industry.

In addition, good practices on how to formulate apprenticeship syllabus were shared by participating companies. To ensure the effectiveness of the apprenticeship programmes, based on companies’ experiences, it was suggested that the apprenticeship’s syllabus and programme should be updated and evaluated regularly.

The workshop was concluded with the commitment from Apindo to continue promoting the apprenticeship at the company level and to develop a national action aimed at encouraging companies to develop their apprenticeship programme, particularly through the Indonesian Apprenticeship Network.