US: Call to Hire More Foreign Graduates

The Association of International Educators, or NAFSA, has called on the American Congress to change existing laws and increase opportunities for foreign graduates to obtain permanent residency. The association said the changes should include removal or adjustment of unrealistic caps on temporary and permanent employment-based visa categories, including green cards.
Full report on the University World News site
Source: Universiry World News, Issue No: 0071 12 April 2009

Tackling Graduate Unemployment in Indonesia

David Jardin
Indonesia's Ministry of National Education has announced a sizeable fund to finance entrepreneurship programmes at university level that it hopes will enable more graduates to quickly enter the jobs market. The most recent figures released by the manpower ministry show some 1.15 million unemployed graduates nationwide.
The national education ministry's pro-active director-general for higher education Fasli Jalal believes too many graduates emerge without marketable skills. The ministry has thus earmarked Rp 108 billion (US$8.9 million) to fund entrepreneurship programmes. Graduates will have to compete for a share of the spoils by creating viable models.
Jalal, who has been previously featured here, identifies a lack of student creativity in finding jobs as part of the problem. Other critics point to a lack of such creativity throughout the national education system.Graduate unemployment figures do fluctuate, of course. The fulcrum of the year is August when traditionally most state and private university graduates pass out. This year as the global recession bites deeper it will indeed to be more difficult to staunch the flow into the pool of unemployed.
Reyna Ahmadi, a senior official at the manpower ministry says, "I am sure we will see more graduates failing to secure employment on account of the worsening economic conditions."Jalal nonetheless is determined to make a good fist of his efforts. A number of university rectors are backing his latest scheme. Among them is Idrus Patarusi of the Hassanuddin University in Makassar, capital of South Sulawesi province.
Meanwhile, Jalal has admonished state universities for "inefficient accounting practices" after the ministry received a rebuke from the national audit agency. "Inefficient" in Indonesia is often a code for "creative" where accounting is concerned.
Source: University World News, Issue No: 0066 08 March 2009

In Tough Times, The Humanities Must Justify Their Worth

One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to prepare students for a specific vocation, writes Patricia Cohen in The New York Times. Rather, the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: they are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice. But in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically demanding world have taken on new urgency.
More on the University World News site
Source: University World News, Issue No: 0065 01 March 2009

Many US Universities Cut Staff and Spending

Shrinking endowments, state funding reductions and families struggling to pay tuition are forcing many colleges and universities to cut staff and spending or to delay construction and development plans, writes Tony Pugh of McClatchy. From well-heeled Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Dartmouth to large public institutions such as the California State University system, many institutions are facing difficult financial decisions stemming from the nation’s economic standstill.
More on the University World News site
Source: University World News, Issue No: 0054 23 November 2008

Labor Structure and Labor Force Participation Rate in Rural of Indonesia: Analyse of Sakernas (National Labor Force Survey) 2006.

Nugraha Setiawan
Jurnal Sosio Ekonomika, Vol.13, No.1, pp.31-39

Abstract
The study is aimed at analyzing labor structure in rural area, by carrying out study on working age population, labor force, and labor force participation rate. Secondary data analysis approach was used in this study. The data form Sakernas (National Labor Force Survey) 2006 was analyzed by a descriptive statistical analysis. The result of the study showed that proportion of working age population and labor force in rural area it was more younger and lower education than urban area. However, if we take look at rural labor force participation rate was more higher than urban area, in the all of age and education attainment groups.
Keywords: age, education, labor force, labor force participation rate, rural.

Abstrak
Tulisan ini bertujuan mengkaji struktur ketenagakerjaan di pedesaan yang dirinci atas aspek tenaga kerja, angkatan kerja, dan tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja. Metode studi yang digunakan adalah model pendekatan analisis data sekunder, melalui pemahaman data ketenagakerjaan dengan memakai teknik analisis statistika deskriptif terhadap data dasar yang berasal dari hasil Survey Angkatan Kerja Nasional 2006. Hasil kajian menunjukkan, tenaga kerja dan angkatan kerja di pedesaan umumnya terdiri atas tenaga kerja muda dengan tingkat pendidikan yang relatif lebih rendah dibandingkan dengan di perkotaan, namun demikian tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja di pedesaan angkanya lebih tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan perkotaan pada semua kelompok umur dan tingkat pendidikan.
Kata Kunci: umur, pendidikan, angkatan kerja, tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja, pedesaan.

Struktur Umur Serta Tingkat Pendidikan Penganggur Baru dan Tingkat Pengangguran di Indonesia

Nugraha Setiawan
Pusat Penelitian Kependudukan Universitas Padjadjaran

Penganggur baru di pedesaan proporsinya lebih sedikit dibandingkan dengan di perkotaan, walau perbedaannya tidak terlampau jomplang. Kondisi ini berbeda dengan penganggur ulangan yang pernah bekerja, dimana proporsi mereka yang berada di daerah pedesaan jauh lebih sedikit dibandingkan dengan di perkotaan.
Jika dilihat dari struktur umur, penganggur baru lebih didominasi oleh mereka yang berumur muda, dibandingkan dengan penganggur yang pernah bekerja. Keadaan tersebut terlihat sama, baik di pedesaan maupun perkotaan. Sedangkan, jika ditinjau dari aspek tingkat pendidikan, penganggur baru memiliki kualifikasi yang lebih bagus dari para penganggur lama, baik di pedesaan maupun diperkotaan.
Berdasarkan perhitungan tingkat pengangguran, ternyata di wilayah pedesaan tingkat penganggurannya lebih rendah, dibandingkan dengan di perkotaan. Kemungkinan besar diakibatkan banyaknya migran pencari kerja dari pedesaan yang mencari kerja di kota. Dilihat dari struktur umur, tingkat pengangguran yang tinggi berada pada mereka yang berumur muda. Sedangkan dari sisi pendidikan, yang memiliki tingkat pengagguran tinggi adalah pada kelompok SLTP dan SLTA.
Rekomendasi yang bisa disampaikan terhadap kondisi tersebut antara lain: Penanganan masalah pengangguran baru perlu ditangani secara lebih spesifik, karena memiliki karakteristik yang berlainan dengan penganggur yang pernah bekerja. Misalnya mempertimbangkan, bahwa mereka masih belum memiliki pengalaman kerja dan pada umumnya masih muda tetapi lebih berpendidikan.
Supaya tidak menambah beban kota, dengan banyaknya migran pencari kerja yang datang ke perkotaan, perlu dilakukan upaya pengembangan lapangan kerja di pedesaan, antara lain melalui pembangunan agroindustri berskala kecil yang banyak menyerap pekerja. Dengan demikian para penganggur baru tidak mengalir ke perkotaan, dan juga menarik penganggur lain yang berada di kota untuk mau bekerja di pedesaan.