Airlangga Claims Unemployment Rate is Declining. What Do the Data Say?

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto stated that entering the second quarter of 2026, Indonesia’s economy is in a strong position. In addition, he claimed that a series of economic indicators are improving, including a decline in the unemployment rate.

The statement was made by Airlangga during a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) at the Senate Hall of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday, 15 April 2026. “Our Gini ratio has decreased, our unemployment has also decreased, and job creation throughout 2025 was 2.71 million new workers,” he said.

The former Minister of Industry stated that the poverty rate in the country has also fallen to 8.25%. He also mentioned that a combination of controlled inflation, a trade surplus that has lasted for 70 consecutive months, and high consumer confidence are creating a solid foundation for economic growth.

Based on the latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of unemployed people in Indonesia as of November 2026 was recorded at 7.36 million people. The total workforce in Indonesia as of November 2025 was 155.27 million people.

Meanwhile, the Open Unemployment Rate (TPT) stood at 4.74%. The open unemployment rate is an indicator used to measure the workforce not absorbed by the labour market and illustrates the underutilisation of the labour supply.

BPS recorded that the TPT did indeed decrease by 0.11% compared to August 2025. The unemployment figure in November also decreased compared to August, which was recorded at 7.46 million people. The number of idle people also fell slightly compared to the same period the previous year, which was recorded at 7.47 million.

Nevertheless, the increase in the number of working people is not all full-time workers. Some of them are part-time workers. In November 2025, BPS reported that the majority of the working population were full-time workers at 67.94%, with the remainder at 32.06% being part-time workers.