BPS: Open Unemployment Rate Sees Slight Decline in February

The Central Statistics Agency reports that the open unemployment rate in February 2026 fell slightly by 0.08% compared to the same period last year. “The open unemployment rate stands at 4.68% (7.24 million),” said BPS Chief Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, at the BPS building in South Jakarta, on Tuesday, 5 May 2026.

The total working-age population in February 2026 was 219.54 million people, an annual increase of 2.753 million. This comprises 64.63 million people not in the labour force, up by 891,000 annually, and 154.91 million in the labour force, up by 1.862 million annually.

Of the total labour force, 147.67 million are employed. This number increased by 1.896 million annually. Meanwhile, the unemployment portion is 7.24 million people in February 2026, down by 0.035 million annually.

Amalia stated that the unemployment decline occurred across genders and regions. The Central Statistics Agency recorded the female unemployment rate dropping to 4.36% compared to 4.41% in February 2025.

The unemployment reduction also occurred in urban and rural areas. Amalia noted that the urban unemployment rate fell to 5.60% in February 2026. Similarly, the rural unemployment rate is 3.20%, down from 3.33% in February 2025.

Of the 147.67 million employed people, the majority are workers/employees/staff. A total of 36.99% are workers/employees/staff, experiencing the largest growth of 555,000 people in February 2026. “Thus, the number of formal workers in February 2026 increased to 59.93 million people or 40.58% of the total employed population,” said Amalia.

Meanwhile, the proportion of full-time workers, those working at least 35 hours per week, rose to 66.77% or 98.59 million people. The underemployment rate reached 49.08 million people.

Underemployed workers are categorised into two types: half-unemployed and part-time workers. The half-unemployment category fell 7.27% annually. Meanwhile, the part-time worker rate increased 25.97% in February 2026.

By education level, the majority of the employed population have primary school or below as their highest education, at 35.49% or 52.41 million people out of the total. The second largest is high school education at 30.53 million people, followed by junior high school at 26.04 million people.

The total employed population with higher education, namely diploma and above, only reaches 13.3%. This consists of diploma IV, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees totalling 15.83 million people. Meanwhile, diploma I/II/III totals 3.56 million people.