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Millions still without jobs despite drop in unemployment
The latest BPS report indicates that unemployment fell to a record low of 4.76 percent in February, but the KSPI and a think tank analyst have pointed to discrepancies with real conditions on the ground, especially regarding layoff data.
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Workers produce backpacks on June 14, 2023, at the Katapang factory of PT Eksonindo Multi Product Industry (EMPI) in Bandung regency, West Java. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
T
he unemployment rate fell in February to its lowest point in decades despite reports on mass layoffs and weakening purchasing power in recent years, though critics suggest the statistics do not capture the real picture due to an overstretched definition of what constituted employment.
In its biannual employment survey published on Monday, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed that the national unemployment rate had dropped to 4.76 percent in February 2025, compared to 4.91 percent six months ago and 4.82 percent in February 2024.
That translates into 7.28 million jobless people as of February, or 83,450 more people without jobs than the figure recorded in the second month of last year.
BPS head Amalia Adininggar told a press conference on April 5 that the increase in the jobless figure, notwithstanding the decline in the unemployment rate, was driven by “increase in the workforce” by 3.67 million people to total 153 million in the past year.
The national statistics bureau’s definition for employment derives from that of the International Labour Organization (ILO), or people “who worked for at least one hour for pay or profit” over one week or a period of seven days.
Based on this definition, BPS classifies people who worked at least 35 hours a week as employed full-time, while people who work less are divided into two classifications: employed part-time or half unemployed.
Said Iqbal, chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), cited this classification system as an indication of how out of touch BPS was in terms of the real state of joblessness in the country.
