Indonesia's Unemployment Rate Now at 9.1 Million, Slightly Down from Last Year

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded 9.1 million unemployed people in Indonesia in August 2021. This figure is up from 8.7 million in February 2021, but down from 9.8 million in the same period last year.

However, Indonesian unemployment decreased when viewed from the open unemployment rate (TPT). Indonesia's TPT was recorded at 6.49% in August 2021. This TPT decreased from 9.72% in February 2021 and 7.07% in August 2020.

BPS reported that eight provinces had a TPT above the national average. The highest TPT came from the Riau Islands at 9.91%.

This was followed by West Java at 9.82%, Banten at 8.98%, and Jakarta at 8.5%. Then, North Sulawesi at 7.06%, Maluku at 6.93%, East Kalimantan at 6.83%, and West Sumatra at 6.52%.

Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a negative impact on Indonesia's employment conditions, but the impact is not as great as the previous year when Indonesia first faced the threat of the virus. A total of 21.32 million working-age people were affected by Covid-19, down 7.8 million from August 2020, which was 29.12 million.

Unemployment due to Covid-19 decreased by 740,000 from 2.56 million in August 2020 to 1.82 million. Workers experiencing reduced working hours decreased by 6.62 million from 24.03 million in August 2020 to 17.41 million.

BPS also recorded 700,000 people who were not part of the workforce. This number decreased by 60,000 from the same period last year, which was 760,000. Finally, temporarily unemployed employees decreased by 380,000 to 1.39 million.