Minister Highlights Strength of Labor Market Amid Global Adversities
Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – Despite facing global economic uncertainties, Indonesia’s labor market has demonstrated notable resilience in 2025, as highlighted by Manpower Minister Yassierli in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The minister’s comments followed the release of the latest data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), which recorded the open unemployment rate in February 2025 at 4.76 percent, the lowest since the 1998 financial crisis.
“In the face of global economic challenges, Indonesia’s employment sector has shown remarkable resilience. This resilience presents an opportunity to further strengthen efforts aimed at generating more extensive and higher-quality employment,” Yassierli remarked.
He further emphasized the significant strides in job creation, noting an increase of 3.59 million individuals joining the workforce, according to BPS data.
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Additionally, the data reveals notable improvements in job quality indicators compared to February 2024. The proportion of full-time workers rose from 65.6 percent to 66.2 percent. Conversely, the underemployment rate declined from 8.5 percent to 8.0 percent, while part-time employment slightly decreased from 25.9 percent to 25.8 percent.
Job creation has been widespread across various sectors of the economy, with the trade sector leading the way by absorbing 980,000 workers, followed by agriculture (890,000 workers) and the manufacturing industry (720,000 workers).
Within the manufacturing sector, the footwear industry witnessed the highest labor absorption, employing 172,000 workers, followed by small-scale food industries (137,000 workers) and motorcycle component manufacturing (117,000 workers).
Minister Yassierli reiterated the ministry’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with other government bodies, business stakeholders, labor unions, and development partners to further enhance productivity, expand employment opportunities, and bolster the competitiveness of the national workforce. (BL/ANTARA)