The Number Of Unemployment Has Dropped Since The COVID-19 Pandemic, Minister Of Manpower Ida: Our PR Is Still A Lot

Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Ida Fauziyah revealed that the open unemployment rate (TPT) in Indonesia since the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased.

Even in February, TPT was recorded to have fallen by 0.63 percent.

Ida said, if you look at data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the trend of Indonesian TPT continues to decline every period.

In February 2023, TPT was recorded at 5.45 percent and in the February 2024 period TPT was 4.82 percent, down 0.63 percent.

"It should be noted that this 4.82 percent TPT has been the lowest TPT since the pandemic, and is lower than the last TPT before the pandemic, where TPT in February 2020 was still 4.99 percent at that time. So it can be said that this is the lowest TPT since the reform era," he said when contacted by VOI, in Jakarta, written Tuesday, May 7.

Although the trend of TPT has decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic, continued Ida, it remains to be remembered that in the 4.82 percent TPT there is a total unemployment of 7.2 million people.

"This means that our homework is still a lot. We are of the view that efforts to continue to suppress TPT are continuous development on the supply and demand side of the labor market," he explained.

On the demand side, said Ida, the government must be able to create a good and competitive investment climate.

If the investment climate is good, competitive, and conducive, then job opportunities will be even greater.

"Meanwhile, in terms of supply, we must prepare skilled human resources according to demand needs, namely the business world and the industrial world. So that this supply and demand side must be matched. The goal is for our human resources to be absorbed in the world of work," he said.

Previously reported, Based on BPS data, there were 214 million working-age residents as of February 2024.

This number increased by 2.41 million people compared to February 2023. However, not all of them are absorbed in the labor market.

Acting Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said the workforce reached 149.38 million people. This figure increased by 2.76 million people or grew 1.88 percent compared to February 2023.

Then, it was not recorded that the workforce (BAK) reached 64.62 million people or decreased by 0.54 percent from February 2023.

"From the workforce, not all of them are absorbed in the labor market, so there are 7.2 million unemployed people," Amalia said in the BPS release, Monday, May 6.

Compared to the previous year, in February 2024 the number of unemployed was reduced by 0.79 million people, down 9.89 percent on an annual basis or year on year (yoy).

Thus, the number of people working reached 142.18 million people.

This number increased by 3.55 million people, an increase of 2.56 percent compared to February 2023.