The Number of Foreign Workers in Indonesia Compared to Several Other Countries

The number of foreign workers (TKA) in Indonesia, according to the Ministry of Manpower's foreign worker employment permits (IMTA) by the end of 2017, reached 85,974 workers. This number is only about 0.03% of the total population of 261.89 million. The total number of foreign workers in Indonesia is lower than in several other countries, both in terms of number and percentage of the population, as shown in the graph below.

For comparison, the number of foreign workers in Malaysia reached 1.75 million workers, or about 5.47% of the total population. Foreign workers in Singapore reached 1.37 million workers, or about 24.38% of the population. Even the number of foreign workers in the United Arab Emirates reached 7.3 million workers, or about 80% of the total population.

The issue of foreign workers has always been a political commodity in Indonesia, particularly the increasing number of foreign workers from China, which reached 24,000 workers. For information, the large number of foreign workers from China is due to the increasing flow of foreign funds from that country, bringing new technologies to projects undertaken in Indonesia. Therefore, Chinese workers are needed before the transfer of technology takes place.