MORE THAN THOUSAND WORKERS LAID OFF

Jakarta, Nov 24 (ANTARA) - A total of 1,396 workers in Indonesia had been laid off while companies in five provinces have asked for permit to lay off 20,930 of their workers, the ministry of manpower said here on Monday.

The provinces where the companies had asked for a permit to lay off their workers are North Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Central Kalimantan and North Maluku.

This means that the number of workers who are to be suspended and those laid off are almost equal.

It said the number of workers to be suspended would reach 18,891 while those laid off reached 1,025.

The ministry of manpower has ordered its offices to send a lay-off report on Wednesdays every week including quoting the names of the companies that conducted the lay-offs. It is hoped the reports will be available next week.

The manpower ministry meanwhile expects to have trained 98,000 workers by the end of this year.

It said some of the trained workers had worked abroad. In 2007 a thousand of them went to work in the Middle East.

At present there are 11 technical training centers and two local technical training centers.

In 2009 it is expected 120,000 people will be trained at the centers.