Press Release
Arsjad Rasjid, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Indonesia Business Council (IBC), offers a 3G approach as the main pillar in a structured strategy for inclusive and sustainable growth, which needs to be tried out. Namely, Grow People, Gear Up Industry, and Go Green.
This was stated by Arsjad Rasjid when he appeared as a guest speaker at the Meet the Leaders event at Paramadina University, Jakarta, Saturday (19/7).
In his presentation, Arsjad Rasjid observed that the international situation is changing. This has an indirect impact on Indonesia, especially in the economic field.
"Events in the Middle East, the Trump Effect, the Ukraine-Russia war, and others, make everything move towards change. China alone, as a country whose economic growth yesterday continued to rise, is currently trending down," said Arsjad.
According to Arsjad, the current focus that must be taken seriously is not only about economic growth which is only 4.7 percent, but also the purchasing power of the people which continues to decline. People can be said to have no money at this time. That's why purchasing power is down.
The current focus that must be taken seriously is not only about economic growth , which is only 4.7 percent, but also the declining purchasing power of the people.
Another serious challenge is the number of unemployed people, which rose to 7.28 million. The open unemployment rate fell by 4.7%, but the number of unemployed people rose to more than 7.28 million.
Even more concerning is the fact that almost 60% of our workforce is still in the informal sector. "The big question then is whether employment is sufficient to improve the situation?" said Arsjad.
Arsjad said that his perspective is simple. Currently, there are only two sources of income in Indonesia.
First, the merchant who makes a profit from his business. And, secondly, workers who receive wages, bonuses, and so on. If these two sources no longer exist, then the growth economy will no longer exist, it will definitely decline sharply.
"So clearly, the more urgent challenge today is employment and unemployment," said the businessman from the Indika Group.
''Run away first'' is a fact
To look at employment data, you can source data on investment, which can create jobs. However, even that is full of challenges. The source of incoming investment is more capital intensive than labor intensive.
To create investment, whether small or large, according to Arsjad, there are many challenges. Starting from land issues, thugs, permits, and all kinds of problems.
Arsjad said, from the issue of employment in recent years, we have witnessed a significant migration of Indonesian skilled workers abroad. Starting from nurses, IT experts to engineers.
"It's not that they don't love this country, but overseas the wages received can be five-eight times greater than the amount of wages in the country. Career paths and access to social security are better," he said.
Not surprisingly, Arsjad emphasized that the "Run Away First" trend is a fact, because the number of jobs in the country is very lacking. That is now the question of what will be done with the current reality.
Indonesia's demographic bonus, which is predicted to provide a productive workforce of up to 70%, will be a catastrophe if not taken seriously. Where there is a lot of productivity, but there are no jobs.
"That is Indonesia's main homework now," said Arsjad.
Indonesia's demographic bonus, which is predicted to provide a productive workforce of up to 70%, will be a catastrophe if not taken seriously.
To overcome this, Arsjad suggested the 3G approach as the Main Pillar in a structured strategy for inclusive and sustainable growth, which needs to be tried. The 3G are: Grow People, Gear Up Industry, and Go Green.
Grow People is defined as building Indonesian people as global talents. Not just to work, but also to lead and innovate. Today, there are only 10% of S1 graduates. The rest are graduates of SMA-SMK and SMP and SD.
"Most of our workforce are even junior high school and elementary school graduates. Indonesia's IQ is also currently known to be falling," said Arsjad.
Gear Up Industry is to encourage reindustrialization based on added value and equity as a motor of growth and job creation.
The strategic steps are to downstream minerals and strategic manufacturing, reindustrialization (with added value of up to USD 25 billion to GDP), and expand the industry outside Java, by involving UMKM.
Go Green is about making the energy transition a new economic growth opportunity. Strategic steps taken by re-skilling high emission sector workers, encouraging green financing for UMKM, and involving local communities in energy transition projects.
Source: press release of Paramadina University
