Unemployment Drops, Sri Mulyani: Quality Of Economic Growth Increases Significantly

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: dock. Antara)

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that Indonesia's economic growth, which is solid, is able to reduce the open unemployment rate (TPT).

"The quality of growth increases significantly, as reflected in the creation of jobs that are quite high, so as to reduce the open unemployment rate (TPT) to a level below the pre-pandemic," Sri Mulyani quoted Antara as saying.

In February 2024, the number of people working was recorded at 142.18 million people, an increase of 3.55 million compared to February 2023 of 138.63 million people.

This increase also has an impact on a significant decrease in the unemployment rate.

TPT in February 2024 was at the level of 4.82 percent or lower than February 2023 at 5.32 percent and the period before the COVID-19 pandemic or February 2019 was 5.01 percent.

The business fields that experienced the largest increase in employment during February 2023-February 2024 were accommodation and food and drink, trade, and government administration, which increased by 0.96 million people, 0.85 million people, and 0.76 million people, respectively.

Meanwhile, the proportion of informal workers decreased from 60.12 percent in February 2023 to 59.17 percent in February 2024.

Sri Mulyani is optimistic that the decline in the proportion of informal workers will provide a positive indication of improving the quality of the workforce nationally, because more people get access to formal work or have better job stability.

"In the future, the State Budget will continue to be optimized to maintain economic stability, encourage acceleration of growth, and job creation," he said.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Indonesia's economic growth in the first quarter of 2024 of 5.11 percent year-on-year (yoy).

In the first quarter of 2024, Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices was recorded at IDR 5,288.3 trillion, while GDP at constant prices reached IDR 3,112.9 trillion.