Employment Rises by 2.5 Million: Statistics Agency

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) displays that national workforce as of August 2019 shows an increase compared to that in the same period last year

Indonesian Workforce and Workforce Participation Rate (TPAK) as of August 2019 grew by 67.49 percent, although it was 0.23 percent higher compared to that in the same period last year, Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Suhariyanto has announced.

The improved TPAK, Suhariyanto added, indicates a growing economy in terms of labor supply.

In the period of August 2015 0 August 2019 period, the TPAK rose by 1.73 percent, he added.

Suhariyanto went on to say that the Open Unemployment Rate (TPT) serves an indicator to measure labors that are not employed in the labor market.

According to him, the TPT from August 2015 to August 2019 dropped by 0.90 percent, while in August 2019 alone, the TPT fell to 5.28 percent, lower than that in August 2018 at 5.34 percent. “It means that out of 100 people in the workforce, around 5 people are unemployed,” Suhariyanto said.

In August 2019, Suhariyanto added, male TPT was 5.31 percent, higher than female TPT 5.23 percent. Compared to that in the same period last year, the decline in male TPT (0.09 percent) was higher than the decline in female TPT (0.03 percent).

Suhariyanto also said that based on the trends in August 2015-August 2019, TPT in all age groups experienced a significant decrease between 0.01 to 4 percent. The higher a person’s age, the TPT will tend to decrease, he said

“In August 2019, the TPT of the young population (15-24 years old) was the highest compared to that in the other age groups, which was 18.62 percent. Meanwhile, the TPT for the elderly is the smallest among all age groups, which is 0.66 percent, “Suhariyanto said, adding that the number of people working in each category of employment shows the ability of the market to provide employment.

The BPH Head further said that the structure of the working population based on employment in August 2019 was still dominated by three main jobs, namely agriculture (27.33 percent), trade (18.81 percent) and manufacturing industry (14.96 percent).

“Seeing from the trends in the period of August 2018-August 2019, sectors that reported growth are food and beverage sector (0.50 percent), manufacturing sector (0.24 percent), and trade sector (0.20 percent), while employment dropped the sectors of agriculture (1.46 percent), financial services (0.06 percent), and mining (0.04 percent),” Suhariyanto explained.

Suhariyanto further said that from August 2018 to August 2019, the trend of formal workers rose by 1.12 percent.

In August 2019, there were 56.02 million (44.28 percent) people working in formal activities and as many as 70.49 million (55.72 percent) people working in informal activities, he said.

“Most of the people who work in formal activities are those who are workers/employees, 51.66 million people. In the meantime, the highest percentage of informal workers are those who are self-employed (25.58 million people) and temporary/unpaid workers (18.40 million people),” he said. (BPS Public Relations / ES)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Edited by: M. Ersan Pamungkas