Chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), Jemmy Kartiwa Sastraatmadja, said that until now the textile and textile product (TPT) industry has still not fully recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. "Currently, the textile industry's struggle has not yet finished in the recovery stage from two years of being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. "Improving regulations and implementing regulations really need to be supported so that the state protects the textile industry," said Jemmy at the API CEO Gathering event in Jakarta, Friday (1/9/2023).

Jemmy admitted that the concerns surrounding the textile sector have occurred since the Covid 19 pandemic and are still felt today. The impact of the pandemic is still causing orders from abroad to decline and the saturation of imported TPT goods in the domestic market is the cause of the cloudy TPT industry.

On the other hand, Jemmy highlighted the wave of layoffs that has occurred since 2022, and the potential for a second wave is expected to occur in 2023.

According to him, it is believed that labor-intensive industries, including TPT, shoes and footwear, can help the government overcome the potential tsunami of unemployment caused by the demographic bonus.

He explained that the weakening of industry or often referred to as deindustrialization would result in labor absorption dropping drastically, even though the surge in labor from the demographic bonus could not be stopped.

"So, great efforts must be made by API, APSYFI and together with the government," he said

He hopes that the government will be responsive in a timely and accurate manner, and right on target, so that the labor-intensive textile sector can survive international and domestic economic turbulence.