National Employment Rate Rises to 93.74% in February 2021

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a national employment rate of 93.74% in February 2021. This figure is up from 92.93% in August 2020.

In line with this increase, Indonesia's open unemployment rate decreased by 0.81%, from 7.07% in August 2020 to 6.26% in February 2021. Based on location, the open unemployment rate in urban areas decreased by 0.98%, higher than the 0.6% decrease in rural areas.

Public optimism regarding future job opportunities is also growing. This is evident in the Job Expectation Index, which reached 117.9 in April 2021, up from 109.8 in March 2021. This index strengthened across all education levels, particularly among respondents with academic backgrounds.

This is due to the expected increase in business activities in the coming months. This is reflected in the Business Expectation Index, which reached 123.2% in April 2021, higher than the previous month's 111%.

The Ministry of Manpower has implemented several programs to expand job opportunities during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Three of these are community training programs (PKM), appropriate technology (TTG), and community competency development through Vocational Training Centers (BLK).