Overcoming Employment market Through Community BLK Independence Acceleration

Jakarta, wapresri.go.id – Human Resource Development, as one of the priority programs of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin government, still faces challenges such as the high unemployment rate in Indonesia. For this reason, the development of ecosystems and the transformation of Community Work Training Centers (BLK) are expected to overcome the challenges faced in employment.

“Ecosystem development and the transformation of Job Training Centers in the community are one of the policies that I believe can deal with problems on the ground,” explained Vice President K.H. Ma’ruf Amin when giving a speech at the Inauguration of the Community Work Training Center (BLK) and the Community BLK Independence Acceleration 2022, in Jakarta, Sunday (10/23/2022).

On occasion, the Vice President explained that the BLK has three focuses, the first being on improving the competence of informal workers with lower secondary school education levels.

“This will answer our unemployment problem, which high school graduates still dominate,” he said.

Second, the Vice President continued, the vocational education curriculum prepared by BLK must be able to answer the current industry needs to build links and match employment.

“BLK can refresh workers’ skills who are no longer relevant to industry needs. This kind of vocational education system is needed in the current era of digital disruption,” he said.

Lastly, the Vice President appreciated the uniqueness of BLKs in educational institutions such as the Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School, Kediri.

“This model is unique because prospective workers will face learning directly through business incubators set up in their respective communities,” he explained.

In addition, the Vice President also asked all Community BLK in the country to function effectively so that Indonesian workers’ competence, productivity, independence, and competitiveness will be higher and follow the needs of the market and industry. In addition, he added that BLK is expected to help students understand and have the skills needed in the current and future world of work.

To survive in the future, the Vice President also emphasized the importance of increasing mastery and skills in various fields, including knowledge of information technology and foreign language skills, to be competent so that they can become winners in HR competition both in Indonesia and globally.

“I think, in addition to mastering information technology, English, and entrepreneurship, also teach soft skills such as leadership, adaptation, communication, and problem-solving,” he explained.
Closing his remarks, the Vice President advised that Indonesian human resources should continue learning to keep up with developments in education and skills in line with the changing times.

“In this age of technology, success is not about what we already master, but how we can continuously update our knowledge and expertise to respond to new challenges,” he concluded.

Previously, the Indonesian Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah reported that Community BLK is a priority issue for the G20. Implementing community BLK is a best practice for community-based competency improvement. He added that in 2022, a total of 3,762 Community BLKs would be built and completed. Today the Community BLK at the Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School, Kediri is ready to hold a training.

Furthermore, Ida also described a meeting of the Minister of Manpower at the 6th G20 Employment Working Group (EWG Meeting) and Labor Employment Ministers’ Meeting (LEMM).

This Meeting agreed that community BLK is one of the attachments to the G20 recommendation document for sustainable growth and productivity in developing community capacity through community-based vocational strengthening.

“In the end, we hope all community BLKs can become independent and professional training institutions. Community BLK must be able to provide training following the needs of the labor market and the potential of each region so that its alumni can be absorbed in the world of work, thus helping the government to reduce unemployment in Indonesia,” he hoped optimistically.

Also present at the inauguration ceremony were the Governor of East Java Province Khofifah Indar Parawansa, Mayor of Kediri Abdullah Abu Bakar, Leader of the Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School Kediri Anwar Manshur, and Leader of the Community Work Training Center (BLK).

Meanwhile, the Vice President was accompanied by the Head of the Vice President Secretariat Ahmad Erani Yustika, Deputy for Economic Policy Support and Competitiveness Improvement Guntur Iman Nefianto, Deputy for Human Development Policy Support and Development Equity Suprayoga Hadi, and Special Staff for the Vice President for Communication and Information Masduki Baidlowi. (SM/LHS-BPMI Setwapres)