Jurnal Ketenagakerjaan

Gig Economy or Digital Inequality? Lessons for Indonesia’s Labour Future

Septiana Dwiputrianti, Alexander Kotchegura, Hye Kyoung Lee — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The gig economy has been widely celebrated for its potential to boost national productivity and generate flexible employment opportunities. Yet, beneath its promise lies the paradox of digital inequality. In Indonesia, the rapid growth of platform-based work in transportation, delivery, and online freelancing demonstrates the gig economy’s increasing visibility. However, compared to countries such as India, Brazil, and the United States, the measurable contribution of gig work to long-term economic resilience is less certain. Drawing on secondary data from the ILO, World Bank, and OECD, this paper argues that the gig economy, while expanding labour absorption, disproportionately depends on precarious, low-wage arrangements that limit upward mobility and sustainable growth. From a cultural perspective, gig work normalises hyper-flexibility and individualisation, reshaping the meaning of employment in ways that weaken collective bargaining and career stability. Comparative analysis reveals that countries with robust labour regulations have managed to harness gig productivity without exacerbating inequality, whereas emerging economies with weaker systems, such as Indonesia, risk deepening informalization. This study contends that Indonesia’s policy challenge is not whether the gig economy should grow, but whether it can grow inclusively. Without deliberate labour governance, Indonesia may face a dual economy: one sector benefiting from digital innovation, and another trapped in precarious, digitally mediated inequality.

The Missing Middle: Gig Workers and Unequal Access to Social Protection in Indonesia

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Regulating Platform Work in Indonesia: Exploring Legal Options for Workers’ Protection

Nabiyla Risfa Izzati, Eugenia Novera Kwang — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The rise of digital labour platforms has disrupted traditional labour market arrangements and exposed significant gaps in Indonesia’s regulatory framework. Existing labour law instruments, does not adequately capture the relationship between platform companies and workers, as such arrangements fall short of the definitional threshold of an employment relationship. On the other hand, the partnership model under Law on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises is equally ill-suited to address the dependent and asymmetric nature of platform-mediated work. This regulatory vacuum has enabled the systemic exploitation of platform workers by denying their access to basic labour protections and, at the same time, precluding the possibility of equitable partnership with the platforms. In this paper, we explore three potential options for regulating platform in Indonesia. First, enacting a specific law on platform work that establishes a sui generis “third box” legal category for platform-based labour relations. Second, redefining the concept of “employment relationship” within a revised Manpower Law to encompass platform work and other non-standard forms of employment. Third, incremental reforms through technical regulations in the form of Presidential Regulations or Ministry Regulations that provide partial protections without altering the underlying legal categories of work.

Gig Economy as a Strategy for Employment Diversification in the Digital Era: A Spatial Analysis of Indonesia’s Economy Using a Remote Sensing Approach

Byun Primasrani, Fadly Muhamad Akbar, Rinald Parulian Butar Butar — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The rise of the digital economy has fueled the growth of gig workers as a new driver of regional economic development in Indonesia. This study examines how gig related activities influence output of the service sector and explores their spatial spillover effects across provinces. Using the Spatial Durbin Error Model (SDEM), the analysis employs output of the service sector as the dependent variable and includes Night-Time Lights (NTL), casual non-agricultural workers, internet user percentages, provincial minimum wage, average years of schooling, and micro and small industries (IMK) output as independent variables. Results reveal that NTL, casual non-agricultural workers, and average years of schooling positively and significantly affect output of the service sector, highlighting the role of gig economy and human capital in productivity growth. Conversely, internet use shows a negative effect, indicating unequal digital utilization. Spatially, the lag of casual non-agricultural workers shows a negative spillover effect, suggesting that provinces with higher service sector output tend to attract cross-regional workers, thereby reducing labor availability in neighboring areas. Meanwhile, IMK output in adjacent provinces demonstrates a positive spillover effect, indicating complementary linkages that strengthen interregional economic activity. These findings imply that the gig economy can serve as an effective mechanism to boost regional economic output through job diversification, especially amid limited formal job opportunities. Strengthening gig-based employment ecosystems may therefore become a strategic option to sustain economic growth and promote inclusive labor market development in Indonesia.

The Gig Economy in Different Engines of Growth: Understanding Regional Disparities in Gig Worker Quality in Bali and East Java

Mustika Putri M, Taly Purwa — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Gig work, commonly defined as short-term, more flexible, and non-traditional employment that typically lacks formal contractual arrangements, has shaped the emergence of the gig economy and is gradually transforming labor market dynamics in Indonesia. However, research on gig workers remains limited, particularly in the context of cross-regional comparisons. This study compares the characteristics of gig workers in two regions in Indonesia with different economic structures, i.e., Bali-an economy predominantly driven by tourism-and East Java-an industry-based economy. Using data from the August 2024 National Labor Force Survey, this research employs cluster analysis to reveal the structure of gig workers in each province based on economic, socio-demographic, and technological factors, followed by multilevel regression to identify the odds for being gig workers at individual and regional levels. The findings reveal that gig workers in Bali experience relatively higher levels of wages compared to those in East Java. A similar pattern also exists for the coverage of social protection term. At the individual level, education and sector-industry and services-influence gig workers’ wages across both provinces. While at the regional level, disparities in labor market conditions and minimum wage policies contribute to differences in wage levels. These findings strengthen the understanding of gig economy dynamics across regions with different economic bases, providing valuable policy and strategic insights on expanding social protection and enhancing the use of technology to support the sustainability of labor markets in the digital era.

Vulnerable Flexibility: An Analysis of the Representation of Gig Workers' Sustainability in Indonesian Digital Media

Muhammad Murda, Tindia Febriyati — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The digital transformation of Indonesia’s economy has generated a new labor ecosystem known as the gig economy, where online drivers, logistics couriers, and digital freelancers perform flexible yet precarious work through algorithmic platforms. While this model offers autonomy and efficiency, it simultaneously produces new forms of dependency, income instability, and the erosion of social protection. Beyond its economic dimension, the gig economy also signifies a profound cultural shift in how work, identity, and value are constructed in the digital era. This study examines how the sustainability of gig workers’ livelihoods is represented within Indonesia’s digital media landscape, focusing on tensions between dominant narratives of digital competitiveness and counter-narratives of injustice, exhaustion, and collective resistance. Employing a qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) using Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework—textual, discursive, and socio-political—this research analyzes online news, social media posts, and protest videos published between 2023 and 2025. The findings reveal that public narratives frequently glorify flexibility as a symbol of progress while obscuring the structural and cultural vulnerabilities faced by gig workers. Conversely, worker-generated counter-narratives articulate cultural solidarity and digital resistance against algorithmic exploitation. By situating the gig economy within Indonesia’s socio-cultural context, this study argues that the sustainability of digital labor requires not only economic inclusion but also cultural recognition and decolonial understandings of work, identity, and justice. Therefore, policy reforms should integrate workers’ lived experiences, media narratives, and cultural meanings to ensure a fair and sustainable digital transformation.

Climate & Gig Work: Is Heat Wave Reducing Gig Riders' Productivity in Greater Jakarta?

Yohanes Eki Apriliawan — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

This study demonstrates that rising surface temperatures significantly reduce gig rider productivity in Greater Jakarta, primarily by decreasing their weekly working hours and monthly income. Using spatial panel analysis with socioeconomic and environmental data from 2021 to 2024, we find that heat impacts are most severe in densely built, low-vegetation areas, while green spaces offer mitigation. Vegetation buffers the negative effects of heat, whereas higher night-time economic intensity exacerbates them. Metropolitan-scale analysis reveals that increases in temperature in one area also depress productivity in neighboring areas, highlighting interconnected climate risks. Further, gig riders are especially vulnerable compared to non-gig informal workers due to their mobility, exposure, and limited protections. These findings directly support policy priorities on human capital, economic transformation, and climate adaptation, emphasizing the urgent need for urban heat-safety standards, cooling infrastructure, and adaptive social protection for gig workers.

What Drives Gig Workers’ Welfare in Indonesia? Evidence from a Panel Data Regression 2018–2023

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The rapid growth of digital technology has driven significant transformations in the labor market, marked by the emergence of the gig economy. While offering flexibility, gig workers is often accompanied by legal uncertainties and a lack of social protection, raising concerns about worker welfare. This study aims to identify the factors influencing gig workers' wages in Indonesia from economic, social, and digital perspectives. The analysis uses panel data from 34 provinces over the 2018–2023 period, sourced from BPS. The analytical method employed is the fixed effect model, corrected using the seemingly unrelated regression approach to address issues of heteroskedasticity and inter-regional correlation. The results show that inflation, human development index, open unemployment rate, ICT readiness, and ICT intensity significantly affect gig workers’ wages. ICT readiness has a positive impact, whereas the ICT intensity has a negative effect on wages. Meanwhile, ICT skills do not show a significant influence. This study highlights the need for inclusive digital policies and strengthened worker bargaining power to build a sustainable gig economy ecosystem.

The Impact of Kartu Prakerja Program Participation on the Decision to Become a Gig Worker and Gig Worker Earnings in Indonesia

Ribut Nurul Tri Wahyuni, Asy-Syifa — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many individuals to lose their jobs and face economic uncertainty, prompting a shift toward more flexible work arrangements such as gig worker work—freelance jobs based on digital platforms without formal employment contracts. To address the employment impact, the government launched the Kartu Prakerja Program as an effort to enhance skills and support labor adaptation. This study aims to analyze the general characteristics of Kartu Prakerja recipients and examine its impact on individuals’ decisions to become gig workers, as well as its effect on their earnings. The data used in this study come from the August 2024 National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) by BPS-Statistics Indonesia, employing the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method to reduce potential estimation bias and the Tobit model to account for censored earnings data. The findings reveal that the Kartu Prakerja Program increases the likelihood of individuals becoming gig workers but reduces their earnings. These results suggest that, although the program effectively facilitates transitions into the digital sector, further evaluation is necessary to ensure its benefits are distributed more evenly, particularly in supporting skill development and earnings growth among gig workers.

Variables Affecting the Percentage of Informal Workforce in Gen Z in Indonesia 2021-2023

Syofmarlianisyah Putri, Achmad Prasetyo — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0700

Indonesia, as the fourth most populous country in the world, has great human resource potential to drive economic growth. Based on BPS data, around 69.5% of Indonesia's population is of productive age, which also increases the number of workforce every year. However, limitations in providing formal employment can cause some of the workforce, including Gen Z, to be absorbed into the informal sector. Although the informal sector has continued to grow in recent years, this sector is still faced with a number of problems, such as low wages, minimal social protection, and the dominance of low-educated workers. This study focuses on the period 2021–2023, namely the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery period marked by the acceleration of digitalization in the world of work. The purpose of this study is to analyze the variables that influence the percentage of Gen Z informal workers in Indonesia. Using data sourced from BPS and the Ministry of Manpower, the FEM SUR method was produced on a panel of data from 34 provinces. It was found that the variables of average length of schooling, income, internet, certified training, provincial minimum wage, and GRDP per capita had a significant negative influence on the percentage of informal workers of Gen Z.. This finding suggests that improving the quality of education and economic support can drive Gen Z towards more formal and protected jobs.