Skilled Workforce Challenge For Indonesian Textile Sector
The Indonesia textile and garment industry which is seeing various challenges including increasing imports is also facing a challenge of hiring employees who have requisite skills and competencies.
The industry that employs around 3.9 people has identified that the productivity and skills of the workforce greatly influence the performance of the textile industry.
To overcome this, vocational education and training has been identified as the main solution to produce competent industrial human resources.
At a recent seminar, Masrokhan, Head of the Industrial Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDMI), highlighted the importance of vocational higher education as a solution.
He cited the example of the role of the STTT Bandung Polytechnic, which has succeeded in producing skilled graduates in the field of textiles and textile products.
“This polytechnic builds close relationships between the world of vocational education and industry, which ensures that students graduating from the institute are highly skilled,” he added.
However, just 309 graduates pass out per year from the Polytechnic with specialisation in various textile segments, due to which the industry’s needs are still not fully met as the need is for 500 every year.
Another expert stated that there is an urgent need to overcome this gap by increasing the capacity and quality of vocational education, in providing a workforce that meets the needs of the textile industry.
“This will help build a strong foundation for the sustainable development of the textile industry and increased employment opportunities for people,” the expert said.
