D

espite the country’s vibrant economic growth and development over the past few years, the Indonesian government is still unable to create decent jobs for its growing population.

A recent study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) titled “Decent Work Country Profile — Indonesia” shows that Indonesia’s economic growth has reduced poverty as well as increased the level of productivity.

However, it’s still hard for the government to provide its population with decent jobs — employment with proper working hours, fair income and social protection of workers and their family members.

According to David Williams of the ILO’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific (ILO ROAP), economic growth in Indonesia had helped children continue their primary education and this had improved literacy rates.

“Such improvements are important components of the social economic context for decent work and the development of other aspects of decent work as well,” said Williams.

At the same time, however, tough challenges remained. The primary challenge was to create decent employment for the country’s growing population.

Williams spoke at the launch of the ILO’s decent work country profile in Jakarta on Wednesday. The report follows the ILO/European Commission project “Monitoring and Assessing Progress on Decent Work (MAP)”, which took place in nine countries, namely Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Indonesia, Niger, Peru, Russia, Ukraine and Zambia.

The study shows that the proportion of the working age population, for example, remained stagnant at around 60 percent for more than a decade. The disparities between men and women’s participation is still huge.

Current unemployment is lower than it was 6 to 7 years ago, but it is still higher than in the mid 1990s.

“We see through the report that young people in Indonesia are now disproportionately affected by joblessness,” said Williams, who is also the author of the ILO’s Decent Work Country Profile — Indonesia.

“The most worrying fact is that females face barriers in education and employment,” he added.

In 2010, for example, women made up a large share of prestigious occupations, such as managers and legislators, as gender gaps between men and women narrowed. Still, women were still far more likely to find themselves less well-off than other workers, with lower real wages and a higher proportion of low-paying jobs.

The quality of employment is still also a major concern despite improvements. The number of workers in the informal economy is still large, making up about 50 percent of employment. At the same time, the number of casual workers is also on the rise. “These jobs are typically lacking core components of decent work, such as access to social protection, work places, decent working hours and adequate salaries, for example,” said Williams.

In 2010, nearly 75 percent of regular employees and 50 percent of casual employees were working more than the 40 hours per week as mandated by Indonesian law.

Andreas Roettger, the head of the European Union (EU)’s economic cooperation and good governance section, said the issue of decent work was important for developing countries. “It may be because sustainable, lasting development requires a productive society that will ultimately enhance output and growth,” he said.

The ILO’s profile of Indonesia identifies both policy progress and areas of improvements in the country’s decent work landscape since the late 1990s.