Jakarta (ANTARA) – Manufacturing sector remains the main driver of Indonesia’s economy amidst various global challenges, Industry Ministry’s spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif said in his statement on Friday.According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the manufacturing industry's contribution to national GDP showed an increasing trend from the second quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2026, from 17.92 percent to 19.20 percent.In addition to GDP contribution, the ministry also assessed that there had been no shift in the workforce from the manufacturing industry sector to other sectors, particularly services.During the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery period from 2021 to 2025, the number of workers in the manufacturing sector increased from 18.7 million to 20.3 million—representing an 8.63 percent increase.Meanwhile, the national workforce also grew by 11.82 percent during the same period. This indicates that the manufacturing industry continues to grow and is able to absorb new workers.”The manufacturing industry was able to maintain its workforce until 2025 and even grow by an average of 2.78 percent per year. There will be no shifting of the manufacturing industry workforce out of this sector. Jobs in the manufacturing industry remain competitive and sustainable for bothcurrent and prospective workers,” Febri said.The Industry Ministry also noted another achievement of the growth of the manufacturing industry, which has again exceeded national economic growth after 13 years.In 2025, manufacturing industry growth will reach 5.30 percent, higher than the national economic growth of 5.11 percent.”The growth of the manufacturing industry, surpassing national economic growth, has been achieved over the past 13 years thanks to President Prabowo's directives which support and protects national industry and its workers,” Febri said.On the investment side, as of April 23 this year, 633 companies had reported the construction of new production facilities with a total investment value of Rp418.62 trillion (US$23.66 billion). The investment is expected to create 219,684 jobs.