Head of the Central Java Province Manpower Service (Disnaker), Sakina Rosellasari, Central Java, said that her party had not received reports regarding a wave of Termination of Employment (PHK) in the Textile and Textile Product (TPT) industrial sector in Central Java. "There have been no complaints from workers or the Manpower Office in regencies and cities," he said, Friday (3/2/2023). Likewise, the Head of the Central Java Province Industry and Trade Service (Disperindag) said that investors were actually targeting the Central Java region when the wave of layoffs occurred in West Java and Banten.

"Many of the investors have fled to Central Java, Brebes footwear [investors] have fled to us," he said.

Even so, manufacturing in Central Java is still not stable. Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) of Central Java Province, Frans Kongi said that until now manufacturers were still hampered by weaker demand from foreign markets.

"As far as I'm monitoring, friends, there hasn't been any significant progress yet. The United States is now starting to get better. The economy and inflation have started to improve. But Europe is still not," Frans explained.

Under these conditions, Frans said that entrepreneurs in the TPT sector in Central Java continued to look for ways to maintain production capacity and workforce absorption. Even though demand has decreased, Frans explained that until now production capacity can still be maintained and is in a much better condition compared to the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic some time ago.

Furthermore, in the TPT sector, Frans explained that industrial players in Central Java are currently looking for new markets outside of the main export destination countries. This step was taken to deal with the saturated competition in the domestic market which already has its own ecosystem.

"Domestic they have a lot of production. But because of export difficulties, they really make it for the country. But this is because there is already a lot of competition, domestic competition is just a fight over the market so there is not much absorption. There are already products that are specifically local," he explained francs.

\Early 2023, Apindo, Central Java Province itself has predicted that export demand will improve at the end of the first quarter of 2023. "There are those who estimate it will be a little slower. But our hope is the same as before. That means there is already a bright spot," said Frans.