When a Bachelor's Degree Becomes a Requirement for High School Graduate Jobs

The results of the national university entrance exams have recently been announced, bringing a mix of joy and disappointment to prospective students. For those who failed to secure a spot in their dream state universities, several alternatives remain, such as independent selection tracks, private universities, or vocational colleges. Some may choose a gap year, though concerns regarding academic decline and age-related limitations in the job market often discourage this option.

Under current regulations, admissions to state universities are divided into achievement-based, test-based, and independent tracks. For legal entity state universities, the independent track is capped at 50 per cent, while for non-legal entity universities, it is limited to 30 per cent. For many, choosing independent tracks or private institutions presents a significant financial burden, as these paths often involve higher tuition fees and institutional development levies that can reach tens or even hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Higher education has long been viewed as a tool for social mobility, with the expectation that a bachelor’s degree leads to better employment opportunities and higher income. According to BPS data as of August 2025, the average monthly wage for high school graduates is Rp3.15 million, whereas bachelor’s graduates earn an average of Rp4.80 million—approximately 52 per cent higher. A similar trend is seen in the United States, where the income premium for degree holders is even higher at around 63 per cent.

However, the income premium for graduates in Indonesia is relatively lower than in the US, largely because the number of university graduates is growing faster than the availability of jobs requiring such high-level competencies. This imbalance is reflected in the rising number of educated unemployed; BPS data shows that the number of unemployed bachelor’s graduates has been increasing since August 2022, now reaching approximately 904,000 people.

This presents a profound irony: while higher education is seen as an investment for better employment, many graduates struggle to find roles matching their qualifications. In practice, many available jobs remain administrative, routine, and repetitive—tasks that do not necessarily require the analytical or managerial skills gained through a degree and could be performed by high school graduates with adequate training.

Despite this, many organisations in both the public and private sectors are gradually raising educational requirements to a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, even for positions previously suitable for high school graduates. This has led to ‘credential inflation’, where the required level of education increases without a corresponding increase in job complexity. The government sector is not immune to this trend, as many positions that were previously open to high school graduates have transitioned to requiring at least a degree. Meanwhile, universities continue to expand capacity to meet public demand, creating a self-reinforcing cycle where the rising number of graduates drives up recruitment standards.