Riau Island Sends 3,836 Workers

Tanjungpinang (Antara) - The Agency for Service, Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Overseas (BP3TKI) of Riau Islands sent 3,836 Indonesian migrant workers abroad during the January - June 2013 period, its head said. "Most of the Indonesian workers sent abroad from Riau Islands came from outside the province. Of the total, only about four percent originated from Riau Islands Province," the BP3TKI head, Mangapin Simamora, said here on Friday. He noted that Riau Islands sent 686 Indonesian migrant workers abroad in January 2003, 417 in February, 530 in March, 705 in April, 771 in May and 727 in June. A total of 3,475 were employed in the formal sector, while the remaining 361 worked in the informal sector. "The public thinks that most Indonesian workers sent to Malaysia work in the informal sector, such as domestic helpers. In fact, many of them worked in the formal sector," he said. (*)