inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Minister of National Development Planning Rachmat Pambudy said that economic growth is a reflection of productivity.

"High growth definitely means more productivity while low growth is certainly low productivity," said Minister Rachmat on Tuesday (7/10/2025).

He explained that the workforce in Indonesia is actually more productive compared to various other countries. However, incentives given to workers tend to be low.

For example, a farmer from a neighboring country earns 20 United States dollars (US) per hour. Their working hours also tend to be low compared to Indonesian farmers who are far more productive with production yields 3-5 times higher.

Therefore, the Minister of PPN emphasized that increasing human resource competitiveness must start with productivity, which must be accompanied by improvements in the work ecosystem.

According to Bappenas (National Development Planning Agency) records, over the past two decades, Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has relied on capital and labor expansion. Meanwhile, economic output growth has stagnated at around 4-5 percent.

Minister Rachmat noted that to become a developed nation, manufacturing growth alone, accounting for 20 percent of GDP, is not sufficient; it requires 40 percent growth through new ways of working.

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