ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how tensions between globalization and decentralization manifest themselves in the industrial port city of Cilegon in peri-urban Banten, Indonesia, in relation to the competition for work and business contracts in the city's heavy industries. Krakatau Steel, Indonesia's national steel producer, employs a male workforce of about 6,000 permanent workers in Cilegon. Moreover, as a state-owned company with production facilities in Cilegon and a main office in Jakarta, Krakatau Steel was also closely connected to the economic interests of the Suharto regime. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the company played an important role in government policies for import-substitution and industrial development. The chapter focuses on issues of youth underemployment and competition for work in the industrial zone since decentralization in the 2000s. Rapid urbanization, a shift from rural to manufacturing industries, and increased education attainment in decades have changed people's preferences and understandings about education, training and work, especially among the younger generation.
