How Often Do Industrial Workers Go Into Debt? This is the Survey

A Decent Life Coalition (Koalisi Hidup Layak or KHL) survey reveals that many industrial workers are burdened by debt to meet their living expenses. The proportion is 76% of the 257 respondents in the survey conducted in August-September 2024.

These indebted workers borrow with varying intensity or frequency. The most common is monthly, selected by 103 respondents.

Second, only when necessary, selected by 93 respondents.

Then there are workers who borrow weekly (9 respondents).

Others borrow annually (8), quarterly (6), semi-annually (6), and bi-weekly (1).

The survey illustrates that the intensity of household borrowing among workers occurs within relatively short timeframes: weekly, quarterly, monthly, and semi-annually.

"This condition reflects that worker households are completely controlled by financial institutions or services for their survival," wrote the research team in their report, *Low Wages, High Living Costs: The Trap of Modern Loan Sharks on Worker Families in Six Industrial Sectors*, quoted on Tuesday (November 19, 2024).

The debt economy survey, conducted over a month and a half in August-September 2024, collected data from 257 sources across eight regions and six industrial sectors.

The eight regions are Tangerang City and Regency, Serang City (Banten); Sukabumi City and Regency (West Java); Sambas Regency (West Kalimantan); Morowali Regency (Central Sulawesi); Denpasar City (Bali); Brebes Regency and Jepara Regency (Central Java); and Sidoarjo Regency (East Java).

The participating industrial sectors are manufacturing (88 respondents), gig economy/ride-hailing workers (80 respondents), aviation (11 respondents), plantations (30 respondents), mining (37 respondents), and fisheries (11 respondents).

The research uses a participatory action approach integrating quantitative and qualitative methods.

The unit of analysis in this research is defined as working-class households. Sample selection was conducted using non-probability sampling with a snowball sampling method.

The research team explains that the choice of snowball sampling was based on the unavailability of a reliable official sample frame. Therefore, this research also aims to identify the number of such hidden household populations.

(See also: [Industrial Workers Burdened by Debt to Meet Living Expenses](https://databoks.katadata.co.id/ketenagakerjaan/statistik/673b4be750fd0/buruh-industri-terlilit-utang-untuk-memenuhi-kebutuhan-hidup))