Jakarta. Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry launched the 2025 National Job Fair on Thursday, offering more than 53,000 job opportunities amid persistently high youth unemployment.

The two-day event, taking place at the ministry’s headquarters on Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta, drew large crowds of job seekers from early morning. 

The job fair features 18,000 offline vacancies available through walk-in interviews at the venue, while the remaining 35,000 are accessible via the ministry’s "Siap Kerja (Ready for Work)" platform. “This is not just a job fair, it’s a show of optimism and a response to the hopes of job seekers across the country,” Minister Yassierli said on Thursday.

In a push for inclusivity, the ministry also launched a dedicated space for job seekers with disabilities, providing 135 accessible booths. “Every company must recruit at least one percent of its workforce from people with disabilities,” Yassierli added, calling on the private sector to follow the ministry’s example.

The job fair also includes career counseling sessions and talk shows featuring inspirational speakers. Hundreds of employment facilitators from the ministry are on hand to provide career advice and job search strategies.

The event comes at a critical time for the labor market. According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia’s open unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4.76 percent in February 2025 from 4.82 percent the previous year. However, the number of unemployed people rose by 80,000 to 7.28 million due to a rapidly expanding labor force, which reached 153.05 million, up by 3.67 million year-on-year.

Youth unemployment remains a concern, with 16.16 percent of people aged 15–24 out of work, the highest among any age group. In contrast, only 1.67 percent of workers aged 60 and above were unemployed, though this older group was the only one to see a rise in joblessness.