Wednesday, February 2, 2011

SBY says Indonesia needs more entrepreneurs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/02/2011 2:15 PM | National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the nation needs to promote entrepreneurs to create jobs and reduce unemployment.

“People will create new product markets and new businesses by becoming entrepreneurs,” Yudhoyono said at the National Movement for Entrepreneurship [GKN] in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

According to the Bureau of Central Statistics, 7.14 percent of Indonesians, more than 8.32 million people, were presently unemployed, Yudhoyono said.

The President said that the government has made jobs creation a priority but would not be able solve unemployment absorbing jobless people into the civil service.

The government currently employs 7.6 million people as civil servants, teachers, lecturers, Indonesian Military members and police officers.

Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syarifuddin Hasan said that the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia was very low, accounting for 0.24 percent of the population, well below an ideal of 2 percent.

“Through this [GKN] campaign, we hope that we can motivate more people to become entrepreneurs in the coming years,” Syarifuddin said.

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