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View all search resultsRising temp jobs, jobless youth strain RI’s job market
While the share of formal employment improved, analysts warned that many of these positions were short-term or contractual, offering little job security and potentially dampening worker morale and productivity.
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Jobseekers register themselves at a job fair on May 22, 2025, attended by over a hundred recruiting companies and thousands of jobseekers in Jakarta. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
I
ndonesia’s job market showed renewed strain in August, with unemployment ticking higher as tens of thousands lost their jobs and young workers once again bore the brunt of the slowdown.
While the share of formal employment improved, analysts warned that many of these positions were short-term or contractual, offering little job security and potentially dampening worker morale and productivity.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) revealed in its biannual employment survey published on Wednesday that the national unemployment rate inched up to 4.85 percent in August 2025, from 4.76 percent recorded six months earlier.
BPS official Edy Mahmud said in a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday that the country had “nominally” reduced unemployment by 4,000 people compared with the same month last year. However, August’s 7.46 million jobless remains higher than February’s 7.28 million.
Edy explained that BPS classifies the unemployed into six categories, including fresh graduates and individuals who have secured a job but had not yet started working at the time of the survey.
The largest group of unemployed, nearly one in three jobless Indonesians, were categorized as long-term unemployed, referring to those who have been seeking work for more than a year, Edy said. Close behind were those with previous work experience who are currently unemployed, accounting for 30.53 percent.
A relatively small portion of the jobless population became unemployed due to layoffs, making up only 0.77 percent of the total, or around 58,000 people in absolute terms. The manufacturing industry was responsible for 22,800 layoffs, or almost 40 percent of the total, while the trade and mining sectors, the second- and third-largest contributors, accounted for just over 17,000 job losses combined.
