56% of Indonesian Workers Have Mismatched Education and Employment

The mismatch between workers' fields of study and their actual jobs remains a significant issue in Indonesia. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) publication, "Report on Labour and Social Trends in Indonesia," approximately 56 percent of Indonesian workers are in jobs that do not match their skills based on their job type and completed higher education.

Jobs showing the highest percentage of skill and qualification mismatches are skilled agricultural and fishery laborers, reaching 88.9 percent. This data was compiled from the 2014 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The ILO official statement notes that while there's no universally agreed-upon method for measuring skills mismatches, this mismatch can be observed through indicators providing information on the highest level of education completed and the type of job held.

The report concludes that skills mismatches are interpreted as workers possessing an educational level that is either too high or too low for a specific job. Positions such as managers, professional and technical workers are identified as requiring high skills and tertiary education. Many of these positions are filled by unqualified individuals.

Meanwhile, jobs such as clerks, service and sales workers, skilled agricultural workers, traders, and production workers require secondary education. A significant portion of these jobs are also filled by unqualified workers, except for clerks, many of whom hold university degrees and are therefore considered overqualified for the role.