Indonesia protest

JAKARTA: Indonesian trade unions expect tens of thousands of workers to call for higher wages at a mass protest against job cuts on Tuesday, upping pressure on the government as it struggles to kickstart an economy growing at its slowest in six years.

Labour-intensive sectors have shed thousands of jobs in recent months, while workers contend with rising food prices that made Indonesia’s annual inflation, at 7.26 per cent in July, the highest in the region.

Some 8,000 police are expected to be deployed to marshall the protest, with at least 50,000 workers due to march in the capital Jakarta, Jakarta-based risk consultancy Concord Consulting said on Monday.

Unemployment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy stood at 5.81 per cent in February, according to official statistics, but analysts say that doesn’t cover the informal sector and the real figure could be much higher.