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Inflation erodes low-wage workers' income: BPS survey
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Workers construct a section of the East Jakarta toll road on March 31. A Central Statistics Agency (BPS) survey has indicated that the real wages of construction workers were down 0.05 percent in March. (ANTARA FOTO/Widodo S Jusuf)
D
espite a slight month-on-month (MoM) increase in March, the daily income of low-wage laborers in the country’s informal sectors are being eroded by inflation, a Central Statistics Agency (BPS) survey has indicated.
Agricultural workers’ wages in March were around Rp 47,559 (US$3.61) per day, a 0.3 percent increase from Rp 47,437 in February. Meanwhile, construction workers took home Rp 81,481 per day, a 0.14 percent increase from February’s figure.
“However, if we take inflation into account, then their real incomes are actually down. The real wages of workers in the agriculture and construction sectors decreased 0.69 and 0.05 percent, respectively,” said BPS head Suryamin on Friday in Jakarta.
However, the wages of two informal sector jobs have inched up. Private hairdressers received an average Rp 24,200 per haircut, a 0.3 percent MoM increase. The salaries of housemaids also rose 0.24 percent in March to Rp 360,164 (US$ 27.32) per month.
“Despite the inflation factor, their real wages are increasing. Hairdressers’ real wages rose 0.1 percent MoM, while housemaids’ real wages grew 0.05 percent,” Suryamin said. (ags)
