Antara News·Indonesia·Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 11:51 AM

Indonesia expands overseas job markets to Europe amid global shift

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Kuntum Khaira Riswan, Yashinta Difa

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers is expanding migrant worker placements to selected Asian and European nations to navigate global geopolitical conflicts and economic slowdowns in traditional destination countries.

Minister for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Mukhtarudin announced the strategy following a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the Parliament Building in Jakarta on Thursday.

"For 2026, we are selecting countries with favorable geopolitical conditions. Our targets include Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia, as well as Turkey and Europe," Mukhtarudin said.

In addition to established markets, the ministry is exploring placement opportunities across Eastern and Southern Europe, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, and Albania.

Mukhtarudin explained that macroeconomic stability is a primary consideration for worker placement. An economic downturn in a host nation directly contracts the real sector, subsequently reducing labor demand.

He cited Germany’s temporary suspension of Indonesian nurse recruitment due to domestic economic cooling as an example of global market sensitivity.

"We are looking at countries with good economic growth and stable geopolitical conditions that remain unaffected by global geopolitical conflicts," the minister added.

The government has established a target to place 350,000 Indonesian migrant workers throughout 2026.

As of September 2026, the ministry has recorded 260,000 placements, leaving roughly 90,000 additional deployments targeted before year-end.

The government's placement system registered around 290,000 verified and active job vacancies as of September 15, 2026.

However, only approximately 25 percent of those positions have been filled, largely due to a competency gap between available domestic skills and host-country requirements.

Looking ahead to 2027, the ministry projects a placement target of 140,000 workers.

Taiwan remains the primary destination, expected to absorb 80 percent or roughly 112,000 workers, followed by Malaysia with 16,000 and Türkiye with 4,000.

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