One Million Desperate Unemployed in 2023, Majority Elementary School Graduates

According to the Ministry of Manpower's data, in August 2023, there were 1.05 million unemployed individuals who were discouraged workers, meaning they felt it was impossible to find a job.

This discouraged group comprised 13.41% of the total number of unemployed in Indonesia during that period.

The majority of discouraged unemployed in August 2023 were elementary school graduates or lower, totaling 366,000 individuals.

The number of discouraged workers tended to decrease with increasing education levels.

An exception occurred among university graduates (D4/S1/S2/S3). Despite having the highest education level, discouraged unemployment in this group was higher than among diploma graduates (D1/D2/D3), both in terms of number and proportion.

Here is a breakdown of the number of discouraged unemployed by education level, and their proportion compared to the total unemployed in the same group in August 2023:

* Elementary school graduates/lower: 366,000 discouraged workers (27.07% of total unemployed elementary school graduates/lower)
* Junior high school graduates: 267,000 discouraged workers (21.43% of total unemployed junior high school graduates)
* Senior high school graduates: 287,000 discouraged workers (11.45% of total unemployed senior high school graduates)
* Vocational high school graduates: 89,000 discouraged workers (5.04% of total unemployed vocational high school graduates)
* Diploma graduates: 7,000 discouraged workers (4.28% of total unemployed diploma graduates)
* University graduates: 34,000 discouraged workers (4.42% of total unemployed university graduates)