It’s Labor Day. Workers claim that wages had not changed much. Which begs the question: compared to what?
Real wages in Indonesia (BPS)
Statistics of average real wages (total industri in the graph above) shows that since the 1998 crisis, real wages have been increasing at more than 7 percent per year, which double the real wages in 10-year time.
However, compared to the pre-crisis peak of real wages in 1997, current real wages are only about 20 percent higher, which may explain workers’ claim. Moreover, in the last two years, real wages have been stagnating, if not declining.
And labors, of course, are not created equal. Cigarette factory workers (industri rokok) and garment workers (industri pakaian jadi) are among the winners, while ceramic workers (industri batu bata, ubin) are the losers.