Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Tan Sri Da'i Bachtiar, said the affected workers were mainly those in the manufacturing sector.
"Just before the Chinese New Year celebrations, nearly 10,000 workers from Johor were sent back to Indonesia.
"We are expecting more workers to be laid off soon," he said after visiting Balai Berita yesterday.
He said Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam had given the embassy his assurance that the ministry would try to minimise the number of Indonesian workers being sent home.
However, he believes that more of them would be sent home gradually throughout the year and expects the figure to reach 100,000 by year-end.
