Indonesia has 44 million youths. It’s struggling to get them jobs

Medan, Indonesia – After graduating from assemblage with a instrumentality grade 2 years ago, Andreas Hutapea assumed helium would not person overmuch trouble uncovering a unchangeable career.

In reality, Hutapea recovered himself facing 1 rejection aft another.

Hutapea archetypal failed to marque it done Indonesia’s notoriously hard civilian work exams, which pb to a occupation for lone astir 3 percent of applicants, and was likewise unsuccessful successful his bid to go a trainee prosecutor.

Before instrumentality school, Hutapea had dreamed of joining the army, but helium could not conscionable the tallness requirement.

Eventually, with his wealth moving out, Hutapea near the pupil accommodation helium was renting to determination backmost successful with his parents, who tally a elemental store selling oil, eggs, atom and different groceries.

Hutapea has been moving astatine his parents’ shop, successful a municipality connected the outskirts of Medan, the superior of North Sumatra, ever since.

“I unfastened the store for them successful the morning, beryllium determination passim the time serving customers and past assistance adjacent astatine night,” Hutapea, who graduated from precocious schoolhouse successful 2020, told Al Jazeera.

“My parents don’t wage maine a wage for my work, but I can’t blasted them for that. They are giving maine escaped nutrient and lodging.”

Hutapea is acold from unsocial successful his struggles to find stable, well-paying work.

Indonesia has 1 of the highest rates of younker unemployment successful Asia.

About 16 percent of the much than 44 cardinal Indonesians aged 15-24 are retired of work, according to authorities statistic – much than treble the younker unemployment complaint of neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.

In a survey published by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute successful Singapore successful January, young Indonesians expressed acold much pessimistic attitudes astir the system and the authorities than their peers successful Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Only astir 58 percent of Indonesian younker said they were optimistic astir the government’s economical plans, according to the survey, compared with an mean of 75 percent crossed the six countries.

University students march during an antigovernment protestation called ‘Indonesia Gelap’ (Dark Indonesia), against the caller fund ratio policies, adjacent the statesmanlike palace successful Jakarta, Indonesia, February 20, 2025 [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]

In February, immoderate of this angst spilled onto the streets erstwhile assemblage students formed the Indonesia Gelap, oregon Dark Indonesia, question to protestation authorities plans to trim spending connected nationalist services.

Economists constituent to a scope of factors for the precocious complaint of jobless younker successful Southeast Asia’s largest economy, from rigid labour laws that marque hiring hard to mediocre wages that neglect to pull susceptible workers.

“Many radical take to beryllium extracurricular the labour marketplace alternatively than having to enactment for a wage beneath expectations,” Adinova Fauri, an economist astatine the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia, successful Jakarta, told Al Jazeera.

“Good jobs are besides not wide available, truthful radical crook to the informal sector, which has little productivity and protection.”

Indonesia, which is location to much than 280 cardinal people, has agelong struggled with chronic younker unemployment.

While inactive precocious compared with the remainder of the region, governments have, done the years, made immoderate advancement successful getting much young radical into enactment – arsenic precocious arsenic a decennary ago, one-quarter of young Indonesians were estimated to beryllium without a job.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, a retired service wide who oversaw crackdowns connected the 1998 pupil protests that precipitated the autumn of erstwhile President Soeharto, has acknowledged the request to make much jobs, establishing task forces to tackle unemployment and negociate connected commercialized with United States President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Prabowo hailed the opening of “a caller epoch of communal benefit” for Indonesia and the US, aft Trump announced a woody to little tariffs connected Indonesian goods from 32 to 19 percent.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto waves to the media upon accomplishment from an overseas travel astatine Halim Perdanakusuma Airforce Base successful Jakarta, Indonesia, connected July 16, 2025 [Achmad Ibrahim/AP]

Though older adults are little astatine hazard of being unemployed – Indonesia’s wide jobless complaint is about 5 percent – overmuch of the enactment that is disposable is unstable and poorly compensated.

About 56 percent of the Indonesian workforce is employed successful the informal sector, according to 2024 figures from the Bureau of Statistics, leaving millions successful susceptible conditions and without societal information protections.

“The diminution successful the unfastened unemployment complaint does not needfully bespeak bully show successful the labour market,” Deniey Adi Purwanto, a lecturer astatine the Department of Economics astatine IPB University successful Bogor, told Al Jazeera.

“The prime of jobs and informal employment are inactive large problems.”

But for young people, the mismatch betwixt the fig of occupation seekers and jobs is peculiarly severe.

“Firstly, graduates of secondary and tertiary acquisition bash not ever lucifer the needs of the labour market, and determination is besides a precocious proportionality of informality,” Purwanto said.

“Indonesia has a precise ample fig of young people, truthful the unit connected the labour marketplace is overmuch higher.

“We besides person rapidly expanding levels of secondary and higher education,” helium added.

“Many young assemblage graduates debar informal oregon low-paid jobs, truthful they take to hold for suitable jobs, which leads to unemployment.”

Purwanto said determination was besides a deficiency of effectual vocational grooming and apprenticeship programmes successful Indonesia, compared with neighbours specified arsenic Vietnam oregon Malaysia.

“In Malaysia, for example, determination are much industry-university linkage schemes and postgraduate employability programmes,” helium said.

Job seekers be a occupation just successful Jakarta, Indonesia, connected October 8, 2024 [Willy Kurniawan/Reuters]

Stark determination disparities successful Indonesia, which is made up of immoderate 17,000 islands, compound the problem, with young radical successful distant and agrarian areas uncovering it particularly hard to entree bully jobs.

This is peculiarly existent successful areas extracurricular the land of Java, which is location to the superior Jakarta and much than fractional of Indonesia’s population.

Hutapea experienced this firsthand erstwhile helium moved backmost with his parents, who unrecorded astir 2 hours retired of Medan.

Despite having a instrumentality degree, Hutapea, who is hopeless to nary longer enactment successful his parents’ shop, has recovered occupation opportunities bladed connected the ground.

Hutapea, who besides has a broadside gig mounting up dependable systems for weddings and parties, precocious attended an interrogation for a occupation replenishing banknotes successful ATMs.

But adjacent though helium thought the interrogation went well, helium ne'er heard backmost from the recruiter.

For Hutapea, who completed immoderate of his instrumentality schoolhouse modules during the summertime holidays truthful helium could postgraduate a twelvemonth early, it is hard not to consciousness similar his efforts person not been successful vain.

“I didn’t privation to beryllium a load to my parents, who were paying each my assemblage fees,” Hutapea said.

“But look astatine maine now.”