Population - the Culprit?

Since Malthus, there has been a long history of concentrating on population growth as the source for the world''s social, environmental and recently also political troubles. Deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, air pollution, global warming, unemployment, poverty and - most recently - terrorism are put down to high population growth, mainly to be found in the developing countries.

To solve these problems, governments and aid agencies have for many years often focused on population control efforts in developing countries. However, the correlation between rapid population growth and slow economic growth is far from being proven. Starvation and environmental degradation might be caused by unequal land distribution instead of increasing population sizes.

A significant share of the world''s environmental problems could be blamed on the disproportionate consumption of natural resources in the industrial countries and not in the "overpopulated" developing word. And finally, political instability might not be the consequence of overpopulation, but of frustration due to the lack of participation of the poor. This is not to say, that population growth should not at all blamed for the miseries of the people; but in our complex world we should remember that population is only one factor among many.

Sumber: http://www.escwa.un.org/popin

Labor Structure and Labor Force Participation Rate in Rural of Indonesia: Analyse of Sakernas (National Labor Force Survey) 2006

Nugraha Setiawan
Jurnal Sosioekonomika, Juni 2007 13(1): 31-39

Abstract
The study is aimed at analyzing labor structure in rural area, by carrying out study on working age population, labor force, and labor force participation rate. Secondary data analysis approach was used in this study. The data form Sakernas (National Labor Force Survey) 2006 was analyzed by a descriptive statistical analysis. The result of the study showed that proportion of working age population and labor force in rural area it was more younger and lower education than urban area. However, if we take look at rural labor force participation rate was more higher than urban area, in the all of age and education attainment groups.
Keywords: age, education, labor force, labor force participation rate, rural.

Abstrak
Tulisan ini bertujuan mengkaji struktur ketenagakerjaan di pedesaan yang dirinci atas aspek tenaga kerja, angkatan kerja, dan tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja. Metode studi yang digunakan adalah model pendekatan analisis data sekunder, melalui pemahaman data ketenagakerjaan dengan memakai teknik analisis statistika deskriptif terhadap data dasar yang berasal dari hasil Survey Angkatan Kerja Nasional 2006. Hasil kajian menunjukkan, tenaga kerja dan angkatan kerja di pedesaan umumnya terdiri atas tenaga kerja muda dengan tingkat pendidikan yang relatif lebih rendah dibandingkan dengan di perkotaan, namun demikian tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja di pedesaan angkanya lebih tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan perkotaan pada semua kelompok umur dan tingkat pendidikan.
Kata Kunci: umur, pendidikan, angkatan kerja, tingkat partisipasi angkatan kerja, pedesaan.