Employment challenges of the Indonesian economic crisis
This study was launched prior to the mid-May riots, following the decision by the UN Country Team Meeting (Jakarta, 6-7 March 1998) to launch a subprogramme on employment strategies as a UN-System response to the present crisis. The study takes into account the conclusions of the High-level Tripartite Meeting on Social Responses to the Financial Crisis in East and South-East Asian Countries convened by the ILO (Bangkok, 22-24 April 1998) which identified sustainable and productive employment creation as one of the main priority areas of action for recovery and take off from the crisis.
The current problems require short term programmes to be formulated and implemented immediately to protect the incomes and living conditions of those most in need. In addition, medium-term solutions are required to integrate support for the unemployed and under-employed within an overall framework of income generation and poverty alleviation, and which will thus require more careful planning. They should, however, also be designed and implemented as soon as possible to have an impact in the medium term.