Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Indonesia's unemployment rate is at the lowest in decades, according to the latest data by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), but many university graduates are struggling to find a job.
Indonesia registered a 4.65% unemployment rate in May, a 0.03 percentage point drop compared to February.
"Our unemployment rate is at a record low since 1994. It was 4.36% at the time," BPS deputy Moh Edy Mahmud told a press briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The country's unemployed population has dipped slightly to 7.22 million as of May, down by 24,000 individuals versus the February statistics. However, BPS data revealed that high education did not automatically mean a golden ticket to a job in Indonesia.
"About 180,000 individuals or 2.48% of the 7.22 million unemployed had D1, D2, D3 [vocational program] diplomas. Some 14.31% or about 1.03 million people have bachelor's degrees or equivalent, master's qualifications, and even doctorates," Edy said.
Most of Indonesia's workforce only possesses elementary-level education. Only 13.18% of those working have completed university programs. Some 148.19 million people have jobs, although about 38.4 million only work part-time.
Long queues at job fairs are now a common sight in Indonesia. Job seekers have complained about the discriminatory age limits in recruitment, as companies often wish to only hire people under 28 years old, a move widely seen as a way to get cheaper labor.
Layoffs have also hit 32,389 people in the first half of 2026, the Manpower Ministry data showed.