Jakarta. The President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPN), Ristadi, announced that tens of thousands of textile and textile product (TPT) workers have been laid off this year, describing the situation as an emergency.

"The condition of the TPT industry sector is critical, especially for locally oriented factories, as the domestic market is increasingly flooded with imported goods. Clothing, textiles, and footwear from abroad continue to inundate our domestic market," Ristadi told Beritasatu.com on Sunday.

According to KSPN, since the beginning of 2024, 13,800 workers in Indonesia's textile industry have been laid off due to plummeting orders, with some companies even experiencing a complete halt in operations. Currently, only export-oriented textile industries are managing to survive.

"But the actual number is almost 50,000 workers. However, many companies do not want their names to be exposed," Ristadi added. He explained that companies avoid exposure to maintain trust from banks and buyers. "The most critical is the trust of buyers. Buyers want assurance that their orders will be fulfilled. If they hear about layoffs, they might cancel and move their orders to other companies," he said.

Ristadi noted that most of the layoffs occurred in West Java and Central Java. "The largest concentration of the TPT industry is in West Java and Banten," he explained.

The wave of closures is primarily triggered by Trade Minister Regulation (Permendag) No. 8 of 2024, which amends the previous Trade Minister Regulation No. 36 of 2023 concerning import policies and regulations. Permendag 8/2024 relaxes import restrictions on ready-made garments, flooding the domestic market with imported clothes.

"If this continues, sooner or later, the domestic textile industry will not be able to compete with foreign textile products, as their prices are cheaper," Ristadi warned.

Ristadi said the government must limit imports. "In terms of technology and human resources, Indonesia is already capable of producing. It's acceptable to import raw materials that we can't produce," he said.

If imports are conducted due to agreements with certain countries, Ristadi suggested that imported goods should be sold at higher prices than local goods. "If the prices are lower, local products won't sell," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, in the wake of massive layoffs in the textile industry, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah announced on Saturday that Indonesia's open unemployment rate has decreased to 4.8 percent from 7 percent over the past four years.

"Although the unemployment rate is trending downwards, we are not complacent, as there are still 7.2 million people without jobs," she added.