Laboratory of Indonesian Skilled Overseas Workers
From protection
to industry.
Indonesia has long approached labour migration as a question of protection. The Indonesian Business Council proposed a different starting point, treating overseas work as a strategic industry to be developed. This is the record of how that idea moved from a white paper into national reform.
The research
It began with a diagnosis
In 2025 IBC published a white paper titled Expansion of Indonesia's Overseas Worker (PMI) Industry. The paper examined why annual deployment had stagnated at around 297,000 workers despite a labour supply that could support far more.
Its central argument was a reframing. The migrant workforce has the scale, the demand, and the institutional potential to function as a full industry rather than a social protection category. That framing has since become the working direction of national reform.
The paper identified where the sector could be strengthened. Workforce preparation could be better aligned with what destination countries require. Administrative processes could be simpler and more predictable. Financing could be more accessible so that ability to pay does not decide who can work abroad. Each of these became a workstream in the reform that followed.
What IBC does
Convenor and delivery partner
IBC brings the business community to the table, supplies the field intelligence and delivery capacity that reform requires, and provides continuous technical and coordination support so that agreed reforms are carried through to implementation.
Convening the business community
IBC brings business leaders and government into the same forums, so reform is shaped together with the people who will help deliver it.
Bringing private capability
Member companies and partners contribute practical knowledge of where placement breaks down, and the capacity to deliver the programs reform creates.
Accompanying execution
IBC embeds a dedicated team inside government, providing continuous technical and coordination support while government leads every decision.
On the ground
The reform in motion
IBC Talk, Strengthening Workforce Diplomacy
IBC convened government and industry on Indonesia's skilled worker expansion to Japan. Jakarta, August 2025.
Financing the workforce
IBC brought business and government together on funding worker preparation and handed a policy brief to the ministry. IES, February 2026.
8 Strategi Menembus Pasar
The ministry set eight policy directions to open global labour markets. IBC gave technical input.
Setting shared priorities
A government forum IBC supported turned a private sector diagnosis into an agreed reform agenda. June 2025.
Asta Mandala SMK Go Global
Government launched a vocational framework to prepare Indonesian talent for global markets.
From classroom to placement
A private training centre prepares caregivers for Japan through an end to end model.
The impact
What changed
- Sector focused on countries accepting domestic and unskilled workers.
- Japan remained dominated by the technical internship (magang) pathway.
- No dedicated job fair platform for the sector.
- Focus shifted to skilled worker markets such as Japan, Germany, Türkiye, South Korea, and Europe.
- The Indonesia Japan bilateral framework advanced, positioning internship as a pathway to Specified Skilled Worker, capped at 3 years.
- Government held PMI specific job fairs, with 500 plus participants in Malang in August 2025 and 2,500 plus in Kebumen in June 2026.
- No standardized placement process or service standards, creating uncertainty for workers and employers.
- Limited access to SSW test centers.
- A Ministerial Regulation on Placement Procedures was issued, standardizing the PMI placement process and providing greater certainty for employers and workers. It was formalised under KP2MI's 8 Implementation Strategies in December 2025.
- Three new SSW test centers were added in 2025, in Bandung, Semarang, and Yogyakarta.
- Limited training at scale. 5,049 prospective workers were trained in 2025 through government funded training.
- Limited work with vocational schools to prepare graduates.
- SMK Go Global, a national program providing fully funded training and placement pathways, was raised to a Presidential priority. It targets 40,000 trainees in 2026 and 500,000 by 2029.
- The SMK Mendunia 3 plus 1 model adds one year of PMI preparation after three years of vocational education, with 807 vocational schools enrolled.
