The collapse of Indonesia's currency and the consequent exposure of the private sector to massive unrepayable foreign debt has had a devastating impact on employment, especially in urban areas. Accurate figures on the extent of job losses are impossible to obtain, but most estimates put the figure at around two million.(15) The industry which felt the most immediate effect was construction (where an estimated one million workers have been laid off) because much short-term foreign borrowing had been directed into city building and infrastructure projects. There have also been extensive lay-offs in manufacturing and in the banking and service sector as new highly-leveraged manufacturing concerns have gone bankrupt. The banking sector has virtually collapsed and industries providing services to new industries and consumers have lost their customers. Indonesia had experienced strong employment growth for the past several years, but it is the jobs in the new growth areas which have been most vulnerable to changed economic circumstances.