China’s industrial expansion into Indonesia is currently facing significant personnel shortages, particularly affecting sectors crucial to the nation’s economic development. However, as the Chinese firms ramped up new investments in Indonesia, it became more challenging to find qualified workers. This reality has forced industry players like Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to adopt unprecedented steps to guarantee their business can function without interruption.
Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt is addressing Asia’s biggest shortage of truck drivers by establishing a network of driverless vehicles logistics. They’ve recently started a new project in Indonesia and opened up their own driving school. This initiative aims to train drivers specifically for the company’s needs. Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt’s Vice President Sun Lihui highlighted the broader challenges faced by Chinese firms operating in Indonesia, stating, “We were short on workers — from engineers to technicians and drivers.”
While the establishment of the new driving school is a positive step, more is still needed to mitigate the current and persistent driver shortage. To date, over 2,000 such personnel including engineers, signal technicians and drivers have been trained under the program. As Vice President Sun pointed out, “We eventually had to create a driving school to train our own drivers.” So far, we’ve trained more than 2,000.”
Finally, a huge financial commitment has come in the form of Chinese investment in Indonesia’s industrial development. This surge of new funding has created a crush of demand for skilled workers, making the already dire personnel austerity even worse. The picture isn’t just grim for drivers, but engineers and technicians are in short supply as projects balloon overnight.
Besides plugging a major workforce gap, China is promoting academic collaboration in Indonesia. On August 28, 2024 GEM supported the creation of a joint Indonesian-Swiss research lab at Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology. This civil engineering facility will serve as an interface between leading knowledge and on-the-ground practice while building capacity among local practitioners in multiple technical domains.
The personnel shortage remains a key obstacle to China’s industrial ambition. The continued demand for skilled labor is urgent and potentially destructive to future projects if left unaddressed. As other Chinese companies continue to seek a larger footprint in Indonesia, creating a skilled local talent base will be key to ensuring greater success.