August 16, 2025 | 03:34 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto claimed that Indonesia's unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level since the 1998 monetary crisis during his speech at the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the Joint Session of the Regional Representative Council (DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (DPD) on Friday, August 15, 2025.
"Alhamdulillah, today the national unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest level since the 1998 crisis," Prabowo said at the Nusantara Building in the Parliament Complex in Jakarta.
So, what are the facts?
Unemployment Rate 1998-2025
According to the results of the National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the open unemployment rate in February 2025 was 4.76 percent. This figure represents a slight decrease of 0.06 percentage points compared to the same period in the previous year.
"This can be interpreted as five unemployed people out of 100 in the workforce," BPS stated in its Official Statistics Number 44/05/Th. XXVIII on Indonesian Employment Conditions as of February 2025.
BPS data reveal that the open unemployment rate in 1998 was 5.46 percent, which then rose to 6.36 percent in 1999. In the early 2000s, the national open unemployment rate stood at 6.08 percent in 2000, before soaring to 8.10 percent in 2001.
The rate continued to climb, reaching 9.06 percent in 2002 and 9.67 percent in 2003. It peaked at 10.45 percent in February 2006 before steadily declining in the following years, reaching 7.41 percent in February 2010.
Here is a detailed breakdown of Indonesia's open unemployment rate from 1998 to 2025:
1998: 5.46 percent
1999: 6.36 percent
2000: 6.08 percent
2001: 8.1 percent
2002: 9.06 percent
2003: 9.67 percent
2004: 9.86 percent
February 2005: 10.3 percent
February 2006: 10.45 percent
February 2007: 9.75 percent
February 2008: 8.46 percent
February 2009: 8.14 percent
February 2010: 7.41 percent
February 2011: 6.8 percent
February 2012: 6.32 percent
February 2013: 5.92 percent
February 2014: 5.7 percent
February 2015: 5.81 percent
February 2016: 5.5 percent
February 2017: 5.33 percent
February 2018: 5.13 percent
February 2019: 5.01 percent
February 2020: 4.99 percent
February 2021: 6.26 percent
February 2022: 5.83 percent
February 2023: 5.45 percent
February 2024: 4.82 percent
February 2025: 4.76 percent
A Different Perspective on the Data
A lecturer at Gadjah Mada University's Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB UGM), Qisha Quarina, previously commented on the February 2025 data, cautioning that a decrease in the unemployment rate does not necessarily mean the labor market has genuinely improved.
"Even though the data shows a decrease in the open unemployment rate, the absolute number of unemployed people has actually increased (from 7.2 million people in February 2024 to 7.28 million people in February 2025)," Qisha said in a written statement.
She explained that this seemingly contradictory trend could occur if the number of employed people increases faster than the number of unemployed, thereby lowering the overall percentage rate even while the raw number of unemployed individuals rises.
According to Qisha, this situation is an example of how statistical data can be misleading if not fully understood. She emphasized that the issue in the labor market extends beyond mere unemployment to include the need for decent work. "Our main problem is not just about having a job or not, but also about having decent work," she stated.
Indonesia's unemployment rate is the Highest in ASEAN
While the BPS data confirms that the February 2025 open unemployment rate is the lowest since the 1998 monetary crisis, it also highlights another concern: Indonesia's unemployment rate is the highest in Southeast Asia.
According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, among six major ASEAN economies in April 2025, Indonesia's unemployment rate of 5 percent ranks first. It is followed by the Philippines (4.5 percent), Malaysia (3.2 percent), Singapore (2 percent), Vietnam (2 percent), and Thailand (1 percent).
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