BPS Records 31,057 People In West Sumatra Lost Their Jobs Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic

Graph of employment developments in West Sumatra until August 2021. (Antara/Ikhwan Wahyudi)

SUMBAR - Data from the Central Statistics Agency states, as many as 31,057 people of working age have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 in West Sumatra (West Sumatra).

"There are 313,085 working-age residents in West Sumatra who have been affected by COVID-19 until August 2021. A total of 31,057 have lost their jobs, not 13,064 people in the workforce, 16,078 people have not worked and have experienced a reduction in working hours of 251,068 people," said West Sumatra BPS Head, Herum Fajarwati in Padang. reported by Antara, Friday, November 5.

According to him, until August 2021 compared to September 2020, the number of working age population affected by COVID-19 has decreased.

"In August 2020, the number affected reached 531,056 people, in September 2021, it fell to 313,085 people," he said.

He acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on employment conditions because apart from triggering unemployment, there were also jobs lost due to the pandemic.

Herum detailed the four components of the impact of COVID-19 on the labor market, namely unemployment due to COVID-19, not the labor force, while not working and the working population experiencing a reduction in working hours.

According to BPS, the West Sumatra employment structure until August 2021 includes a working age population of 4.08 million people, 2.58 million people working, 2.76 million people in the workforce, 1.32 million people in the non-labor force, and 0.18 million unemployed. .

For full-time workers 1.60 million people, part-time workers 0.72 million people and underemployed 0.26 million people.

In terms of education, the unemployed are dominated by 8.35 percent of diploma graduates, 8.80 percent of vocational school graduates, 8.09 percent of universities and 7.71 percent of high school graduates.

The three jobs that absorb the most labor in August 2021 are agriculture, fishery and forestry 34.70 percent, wholesale and retail trade 19.93 percent and processing industry 8.95 percent.

In August 2021, the population of West Sumatra who worked in the formal sector was 909,032 people, and 1.67 million people in the informal sector. The working population is still dominated by 32.27 percent elementary school graduates, and 16.49 percent of diploma and university graduates.

He explained that the working age population is all people aged 15 years and over, half unemployed are working less than 35 hours per week and still looking for work.

While part-time workers are people who work less than 35 hours per week but are no longer looking for another job.