According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), 82.85 percent, or roughly eight out of 10, companies have experienced a decrease in revenue during the pandemic. 

As of May 27, data released by the Manpower Ministry showed that more than 1.79 million people had lost their jobs after nonessential businesses were shut down to comply with government restrictions. 

A recent survey conducted by job portal JobStreet discovered that the hospitality, tourism, textile, food and beverage and architecture sectors had been the most impacted. 

Involving more than 5,000 respondents from across Indonesia, including employees, jobseekers and recruiters, the survey also found that 43 percent of Indonesian workers have suffered pay cuts of up to 30 percent during the imposition of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). 

JobStreet Indonesia country manager Faridah Lim said on Wednesday that 54 percent of Indonesian workers had felt the impacts of the pandemic, with 35 percent of them having been laid off, while 19 percent had been forced to take unpaid leave, tempo.co reported. 

The site forecast that 11 million people would lose their jobs by the end of this year. 

Read also: Govt expects unemployment to worsen, continue into next year

However, the site also found that five industries were continuing to search for new talent amid the pandemic, namely manufacturing, general trading and wholesale, financial services, retail and information technology (IT). 

Based on the site’s data, the manufacturing industry currently has 5,273 vacancies on the platform, making it the most active industry in looking for employees. The roles vary from supervisors, to production operators to warehouse managers and IT staff. 

Meanwhile, the general trading and wholesale sector has 2,703 vacancies on the platform, followed by financial services with 2,497 jobs, retail with 2,485 vacancies and IT with 2,232 opportunities.

Those with IT-related skills are in high demand across all five sectors, for roles such as IT staff, IT support, programmers and web developers. 

That being said, BPS population and employment statistics director Nurma Midayanti encouraged jobseekers to be creative while looking for opportunities during the pandemic.

She said the creative industry actually provided more opportunities for those who had skills and competencies needed in the current situation, as the sector was currently experiencing a boom driven by changes in people’s consumption habits.

“Competencies combined with IT skills could be used by [individuals] to become entrepreneurs,” she added, explaining that this was one of the ways workers could navigate through the pandemic. (jes) 

 

Editor’s note: This article is part of a public campaign by the COVID-19 task force to raise people’s awareness about the pandemic.