Jakarta – Indonesia's consumer confidence fell slightly in December, mainly because of concerns about job losses amid the global economic crisis, two surveys showed.

The economy and jobs are among the key issues for voters in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

While the official unemployment rate has fallen to around 8.5 percent, millions in a population of 226 million are considered under-employed, or live on less than $2 a day.

"The perennial problem of job scarcity continues to trouble consumers," state-owned Danareksa Research Institute said in its survey.

"With the economic downturn starting to build momentum, consumers harbour increasing doubts that the economy will be able to generate sufficient jobs going forward."

Danareksa surveyed 1,700 households across six provinces and the results showed declining sentiment, with the index falling to 78.6 in December from an 11-month high of 81.3 in November.

A separate central bank survey of 4,600 households in 18 cities across Indonesia, obtained from its website www.bi.go.id on Tuesday, showed that its consumer confidence index fell to 90.6 in December from a reading of 96.3 in November.

For both surveys, a reading of below 100 means consumers are pessimistic. The last time the index was above 100 was in November 2007 for the central bank survey, and in February 2005 for the Danareksa survey.

The government has cut fuel prices three times in six weeks, and has announced plans to spend more than 72 trillion rupiah on infrastructure and other projects to boost growth and create jobs in Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The central bank has cut its key interest rate twice since early December to drive growth.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Tuesday revised the economic growth forecast in the 2009 state budget to a range of 4.5-5.5 percent, from 6 percent previously and down from an estimated 6.2 percent in 2008.

But economists say Indonesia needs to maintain growth of at least 6 percent in order to create jobs. The last time Indonesia faced a severe economic crisis, in 1997-98, widespread job losses led to social unrest.

Local media had reported on Jan. 7 that up to 700 workers had been laid off so far this year, bringing the total since November to almost 25,000.