Jakarta—Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) Yuliot emphasised the urgency of reforming vocational education to meet the challenges of downstream and green industry growth. Without human resources relevant to the industry’s needs, it is feared that the downstream industry’s economic potential will not be maximised.
Yuliot conveyed this message when opening the Indonesia’s Green Jobs Conference 2025, Tuesday, 29 April. He underlined that the success of the national downstream programme is largely determined by the readiness of the workforce, especially from vocational education graduates who master the technology and principles of environmentally friendly industries.
“Vocational education must adjust itself. Its curriculum, trainers and infrastructure must be aligned with the needs of the green industry sector. Otherwise, we will continue to struggle to produce a ready-made workforce,” Yuliot said in a written statement.
Competency gap and downstream challenges
According to Yuliot, there is currently a real gap between the capabilities of vocational education graduates and the work demands in the field, especially in the engineering and clean technology sectors required in the downstream natural resources and renewable energy industries.
“There is a gap between graduates and labour market expectations. We can no longer allow this to happen, because downstream needs the right and strong human resources,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of increasing the capacity of vocational teachers and trainers and building an integrated database to design targeted training and workforce recruitment.
“Vocational trainers must also upgrade their knowledge, because industrial technology continues to change rapidly. This requires collaboration with industry to update standards and curriculum,” he added.
National downstreaming needs skilled workers
Downstreaming is the government’s top priority. A Strategic Investment Downstreaming Roadmap covering 28 commodities and a projected total investment of USD 618 billion until 2040 has been developed. As much as 91 per cent of this investment will flow to the MEMR sector, which includes mineral and coal, oil and gas, and renewable energy.
The economic potential is also significant: an additional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 235.9 billion, an export value of USD 857.9 billion, and the creation of more than 3 million new jobs.
“Downstreaming is not just about investment. Without competent vocational human resources, the impact will not be maximised. This is the foundation that must be strengthened,” said Yuliot.
In line with downstreaming, the government also continues to encourage energy transition through a number of strategic steps, such as early retirement of high-emission power plants, development of renewable energy such as B40 (40% biodiesel), implementation of circular economy for waste-to-electricity conversion.
In the downstream oil and gas sector, the construction of mineral and coal smelters and refinery capacity enhancement projects within the framework of the Refinery Development Master Plan (RDMP) will open up great job opportunities, provided that suitable labour is available.
Indonesia’s Green Jobs Conference 2025, initiated by the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, is a strategic dialogue space between the government, industry, and the world of education in formulating green jobs policy directions.
“Industrial transformation will not succeed without human resource transformation. Vocational education must be at the forefront,” Yuliot concluded. (Hartatik)
Banner photo: Image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E via ChatGPT (2025)
