While many nations are beginning to discuss four-day work weeks or\nwork-life balance, long working hours remain a reality for tens of\nmillions of workers in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Nearly two-thirds of Indonesian workers now work at least 35 hours\nper week. However, behind the dominance of full-time hours, about\none-quarter of workers still spend 49 hours or more working per week.\nThis means that across a seven-day week, the average working time is 6.8\nhours. When calculated over a five-day work week, the average becomes\neven longer, reaching 9.6 hours, or nearly 10 hours per day.<\/p>\n
Full-time working hours are now dominant. The majority of Indonesian\nworkers currently fall into the 35-48 hours per week category. As of\nFebruary 2026, this group accounts for 39.46% of the entire working\npopulation, making it the largest compared to other working hour\ncategories. This figure is a slight decrease from August 2025 (40.43%),\nbut remains higher than February 2025 (38.93%).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, workers with 1-34 working hours reached 33.23%, workers\nworking 49 hours or more stood at 26.06%, while those temporarily not\nworking accounted for only about 1.24%. This composition shows that the\nIndonesian labour market is increasingly dominated by full-time\nemployment. However, behind this shift, there remains a group of workers\nwho work far beyond normal durations.<\/p>\n
A quarter of workers still work excessively. Approximately 26.06% of\nIndonesian workers are recorded as working 49 hours or more every week.\nGiven the current working population, this proportion is equivalent to\nabout 29.3 million people. If the total number of workers in Indonesia\nreaches 147.67 million, then approximately 38 million people work 49\nhours a day [sic - context implies weekly\/extended hours].<\/p>\n
The 49-hour weekly limit is not chosen arbitrarily. In the labour\nstatistics used by the International Labour Organization (ILO), this\ngroup is classified as \u2018excessive hours of work\u2019. This means this group\ndoes not merely perform overtime at specific times; they routinely work\nbeyond the hours internationally considered to be the normal limit.<\/p>\n
Men work significantly longer hours. Disparities are also visible\nwhen data is disaggregated by gender. In February 2026, 28.96% of male\nworkers worked at least 49 hours per week. This figure is higher than\nthat of female workers, which stood at 21.70%.<\/p>\n
Conversely, women are more likely to be in the 1-34 hours per week\ngroup. Their proportion reached 43.93%, whereas for men it was 26.63%.\nThis difference does not automatically imply that women work less; some\nwomen work part-time, while others divide their time between domestic\nwork and caregiving responsibilities that are not recorded as paid\nworking hours. Consequently, extremely long working hours are more\ncommonly found among male workers, while women are more frequently in\nthe shorter working hour groups.<\/p>\n
Long working hours do not necessarily equate to higher productivity.\nLong working hours are often linked to productivity, but the\nrelationship between the two is not always linear. The International\nLabour Organization (ILO) uses the category of \u2018excessive hours of work\u2019\nbecause excessively long hours are linked to increased risks of health\nissues, fatigue, workplace accidents, and disrupted work-life\nbalance.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the quality of work is no longer measured solely by\nwhether someone has a job, but also by how much time they must spend to\nmaintain their income.<\/p>\n
It is no longer just a matter of employment opportunities. In recent\nyears, the structure of Indonesian working hours has indeed shown\nimprovement. The proportion of workers with excessive hours continues to\ndecline, while the group of workers with 35-48 working hours per week\nhas become the largest. Nevertheless, the number of workers working at\nleast 49 hours every week still reaches approximately 29.3 million\npeople. This means the challenge for the Indonesian labour market is no\nlonger just about creating new jobs. The next debate shifts towards the\nquality of employment: not just whether someone is working, but how much\ntime they must sacrifice to earn a decent living.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/millions-of-indonesian-workers-endure-extreme-hours-how-long-each-day-1782978700", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }