A Double Whammy: Structural Challenges and Scarring Effects of the Pandemic on Indonesia’s Labour Market
INDONESIA STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Webinar
Indonesia has made good progress toward becoming a middle-class country. Yet, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it faces complex challenges in creating higher-quality jobs for many average Indonesian families to afford a middle-class life (World Bank, 2021). The pandemic has exacerbated these structural challenges in the short and long term and, in turn, could potentially ‘scar’ the Indonesian labour market without appropriate policy actions.
Learning loss, unemployment/underemployment, informalisation and deterioration of job quality could potentially have ‘scarring’ effects on human capital, future job prospects, and lifetime earnings. They have a more dire impact on newly graduated youth who could not find a job. From the demand side of the labour market, firm downsizing and closures might also exacerbate the effects of the loss of many intangible assets, such as job-matching capital, firm-specific capital and business investment (Portes, 2020).
This webinar will discuss the labour market dynamics in recent years. The speakers will share their analysis of potential scarring effects from the demand and supply side of the labour market. They will also discuss recommended policy actions to mitigate these effects that could hold Indonesia’s goal of becoming a thriving upper-middle-class country.
About the Speakers
Devanto Shasta Pratomo is a professor in labour economics at Brawijaya University-Indonesia. He holds a PhD’s degree in Economics from Lancaster University, UK, a Master’s degree in Economics from Georgia State University, US and Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. Dr Pratomo received the Southeast Asian Ministry of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Jasper Research Awards on Education and Employability in 2013. In the past, he was also a Visiting Scholar at Indonesia Project-Australian National University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Global Asia Institute of the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on labour economics, education and migration.
Adhi Saputro is a senior economist leading the macro policy unit at Prospera, an Australian funded ODA program on public policy and economic governance in Indonesia. He develops technical assistance programs and delivers advice on macro, fiscal, and financial stability issues. He also manages work programson the green economy agenda, including carbon market development and energy transition.
Raden Muhamad Purnagunawan is a lecturer in the Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University in West Java, Indonesia. He has been a researcher at the Center for Economics and Development Studies (CEDS), Padjadjaran University, since 1999. Dr Purnagunawan is currently also the Economic Capacity Improvement Policy Team Leader in the Secretariat of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), a policy think tank under the Office of the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. He earned his PhD in economics from Australian National University, Australia, in 2011. His research interests are mainly in the areas of employment, industrial organization, poverty, financial inclusion, and MSMEs development and policy.
Registration
This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.
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