Indonesia strengthens labour market data to better align workforce with industry needs

Indonesia’s Ministry of Manpower is strengthening its labour market data systems to better align education and workforce skills with the needs of industry, as the government seeks to address persistent gaps between available talent and employer demand.

Anwar Sanusi, Head of the Manpower Ministry’s Planning and Development Agency, said the government is prioritising improvements to the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) to give education providers and businesses better access to real-time information on workforce requirements.

“The strengthening of the LMIS is being prioritized in a bid to enable both educational and industrial stakeholders to access labor requirement data in real time,” Sanusi said.

The LMIS, managed by the ministry’s Labor Market Center, Pasker ID, functions as an integrated platform for collecting, analysing and sharing labour market information. It is designed to connect job seekers with employers while providing a broader view of workforce demand.

Sanusi said the government also uses the platform to collect labour market information from the private sector and identify gaps between the skills produced by educational institutions and those required by employers.

The system provides information on job vacancies, job fairs and training programmes, giving job seekers a single platform to explore employment opportunities and identify ways to strengthen their skills.

Beyond improving the link between education and employment, the ministry is also pursuing wider workforce development measures, including modernising vocational education and forecasting future skills requirements.

“The Ministry of Manpower is also modernizing vocational education, forecasting future skill needs, and advancing the National Internship (MagangHub) program,” Sanusi said.

The MagangHub programme is intended to help university graduates make the transition from education to employment by giving them practical workplace experience.

According to Sanusi, the programme goes beyond simply placing graduates with companies. It incorporates structured learning involving educational institutions and employers, alongside monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that are being developed further.

The government’s focus on labour market intelligence comes as Indonesia seeks to make its workforce more responsive to changing industry requirements and reduce skills mismatches. By improving access to real-time employment data and expanding practical training pathways, authorities aim to help education providers, employers and job seekers make better-informed workforce decisions.