JAKARTA — Indonesia plans to use data on foreign workers to better identify labour-market needs and prepare its domestic workforce with skills sought by businesses and industries.

Manpower Minister Yassierli said the data could show which positions are most commonly occupied by foreign workers and highlight areas where Indonesian workers need to be equipped with relevant skills, as reported by Antara.

Speaking in Jakarta on September 24, he cited process engineers as an example of positions frequently filled by foreign workers, indicating demand for expertise in the field.

“With prominent data, we can learn which roles foreign workers are predominantly filling, such as process engineers, for instance. This indicates that the labour market has a need for personnel in these specific fields,” he said.

Yassierli said the information could also help the government anticipate occupations and skills that would become increasingly important in the future.

He said Indonesia could eventually develop a critical occupation list to identify jobs considered essential to the country’s future workforce requirements.

“In the future, we could develop a critical occupation list to identify roles that will be essential going forward. Educational institutions are certainly waiting for this information,” he said.

Such data could help education providers adjust competency and training programmes to better reflect actual labour-market demand.

Yassierli also stressed that assessing foreign-worker employment should go beyond administrative requirements and include an evaluation of the positions held and the qualifications required.

The assessment should also consider the availability of Indonesian counterpart workers as well as whether there is meaningful transfer of skills and technology.

“Details regarding job roles, qualifications, counterpart staff, and the transfer of skills and technology must be considered to ensure that employing foreign workers adds value to the capacity building of the Indonesian workforce,” he said.

He further called for stronger coordination between central and regional governments to ensure foreign-worker data contributes to a more complete understanding of national labour demand.

Accurate data, he said, would support the development of manpower policies based on actual labour-market needs and evidence.