Indonesia-United States Explore Cooperation In Labor Apprenticeship Program

Special Staff to the Minister of Manpower, Hindun Anisah/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Indonesia through the Ministry of Manpower (Kemnaker) has held a bilateral meeting with the United States delegation to discuss cooperation related to apprenticeship which was carried out on the sidelines of the second meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) in Yogyakarta.

In a statement received in Jakarta, Wednesday, May 11, Special Staff to the Minister of Manpower, Hindun Anisah, said the United States was opening 11 million job vacancies and developing apprenticeship programs to provide work experience for young workers.

"At the meeting, we explored whether there was an opportunity to receive an apprenticeship from Indonesia. This apprenticeship is good. Because apart from studying in the United States, the skills of the workers there are better," said Hindun, quoted by Antara.

According to her, the work culture in the United States is similar to that of Japan, which is persistent. Based on the experience of apprenticeship programs in Japan, apprenticeship participants from Indonesia not only benefit from learning hard skills, but also benefit from their work culture.

She hopes that the cooperation with the United States will also have the same impact, where the skills gained are not only technical but also soft skills.

If the cooperation related to apprenticeship is realized, he said, later the interns will have the opportunity to fill 11 million job vacancies in the United States.

"Hopefully, after the internship there and the qualifications required to work there are met, hopefully, our workers can fill the 11 million job vacancies there," she said.

During the meeting, the Indonesian and United States delegations also discussed capacity building for mediators.

She said that during the pandemic, there were many industrial relations disputes, Indonesian mediators had regulatory capabilities. But there are still weaknesses in terms of technical mediation, such as communication and negotiation.

"This is if we can work together to develop capacity building for negotiation and communication techniques," said Hindun Anisah.