Indonesia’s labour market faces a pressing paradox: more jobs, but not necessarily better livelihoods. Although over 50 million jobs were created between 2001 and 2024 and unemployment fell below 5%, informality remains widespread, wages are low, working hours are long, and women continue to face significant barriers to employment. Workers leaving agriculture have largely entered low-productivity services rather than manufacturing, reinforcing insecure work and weak earnings. Breaking this cycle may depend on fostering higher-productivity industries, making formal employment more accessible to small businesses, linking wage growth to productivity, and expanding care services to help more women enter and remain in the workforce.
Low unemployment masks persistent informality, weak wages, long hours, and gender gaps in the labour market.
