Indonesia's Wage Gap: Men Rp 3.55 Million, Women Rp 2.80 Million

The dynamics of workers’ wages in Indonesia in February 2026 reflect a picture inseparable from the national employment structure. The latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) indicates that the average wage of workers is at the level of Rp 3.29 million per month, with wide variations across sectors, education levels, gender, and age groups. These figures emerge amid labour market conditions still dominated by labour-intensive sectors and a high proportion of informal workers. BPS records the average worker wage at Rp 3.29 million in February 2026. However, upon closer examination, there is a quite evident gap between male and female workers. “The average wage for male workers is Rp 3.55 million, while the average wage for female workers is Rp 2.80 million,” BPS stated in its report. This difference shows that, in general, male workers still receive higher wages than women. This pattern is consistent across almost all worker characteristic groups, both by education and age. In addition to gender differences, wage variations are also heavily influenced by the business sector in which workers are employed. BPS notes a quite wide gap between sectors with the highest and lowest wages. The sector with the highest average wage is financial and insurance activities, at Rp 5.05 million. On the other hand, the sector with the lowest wage is in the group of other service activities, arts, household activities, and international organisation activities, at Rp 2.00 million. Meanwhile, sectors with the largest employment absorption, such as agriculture, trade, and industry, do not always fall into the highest wage groups. This reflects Indonesia’s economic structure, which still relies on sectors with relatively lower productivity.