inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Minister of Manpower (Menaker) Prof. Yassierli said that the number of the workforce in Indonesia experienced a significant increase over the past few years and peaked at 4.4 million in 2024.

“The average of Indonesian workers in Indonesia has reached 3.3 million in the past eight years. Even in 2024, the average number reached 4.4 million,” says Yassierli on Friday (1/10/2025).

Minister Yassierli says that the informal sector still dominates the number of workforce in Indonesia with low education requirements of elementary school and junior high school graduates.

In total, the number of workforce in Indonesia is separated into three with 55.10 percent in the informal sector, 39.98 percent in the formal sector, and 4.91 percent still unemployed.

Then when viewed in terms of education, elementary and junior high school graduates still dominate with a contribution of 52.33 percent, vocational high school/equivalent 34.81 percent and 12.86 percent of university or diploma graduates. Referring to the data, there is a gap between the number of working population and the workforce.

"Currently, the number of unemployed in Indonesia has reached 7.5 million people and this number will continue to increase if the community, especially students, do not prepare themselves after graduating," said the Minister of Manpower. 

In addition, the Minister of Manpower said that in the context of the ASEAN human capital index, Indonesia's position is also relatively low with a score of 0.540 or below the ASEAN average. Indonesia is still far behind Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Thailand.

“This has become a huge challenge for us, especially the universities, in improving this number,” said Yassierli.

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