National

In early 2016, President Joko Widodo visited Silicon Valley where he expressed his goal of shifting Indonesia away from commodity dependence and creating a more technologically advanced and digitalized economy (Sipahutar 2016). This shift requires modernization of digital infrastructure, improved scientific research, and greater innovation among large companies, but also support for startup innovation and creativity. The government has implemented a range of policies and programs in line with the transformation agenda.

GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion) Lessons Learned Document presents GEDSI knowledge from KSI partners and other organisations who are champions in mainstreaming GEDSI in their research and advocacy. This book aims to enrich the knowledge-to-policy (K2P) process with perspectives from marginalised communities and to provide advice on how to involve these communities throughout the process. Part of this is how to make fieldwork accessible to people facing challenges arising from disability or gender-based discrimination.

In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) No. 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth, people with and without disabilities have equal rights to access decent and productive jobs. Furthermore, the fulfillment of the righths of disabled people to decent jobs will help to achieve SDG No. 10 on Reduced Inequality. However, in reality, there are pervasive and persistent barriers for people with disabilities to access the labor market.

Trust is an important ingredient to improve economic performance and people's welfare by alleviating market failures caused by imperfect information, costly enforcement, or coordination failures. Using the World Values Survey 2018, we estimate the impact of village and district levels inequality on trust in institutions in Indonesia. We find that higher village level inequality has a negative effect only on trust in strangers, while higher district level inequality reduces trust in television, the press, the central government, the courts, and the police.

Law No. 1 of 2020 on Job Creation (Job Creation Law) states that the Unemployment Benefit (JKP) has the objective of easing the burden of laid-off workers in landing a new job and maintaining their standard of living. One of the benefits JKP offers is access to labor market information (IPK), namely the Karirhub-Sistem Informasi Ketenagakerjaan1 (Karirhub-Sisnaker), which is the national job platform provided by the Ministry of Labor. To support optimal implementation of JKP, the Ministry of Labor needs to make Karirhub-Sisnaker inclusive.

Young people dominate the unemployed population in Indonesia: three quarters of unemployed people were youth in 2019 and the level of youth unemployment increased from 13.03 percent to 15.23 percent between August 2019 and August 2020. At the same time, with the country’s demographic dividend and a high volume of public consumption, youth entrepreneurship in Indonesia has the potential to mitigate youth unemployment, build robust and inclusive economic growth and contribute to sustainable development.

The economic crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had an impact on the employment situation in Indonesia. There are at least two implications of the crisis on the employment sector: (i) an increase in unemployment rate and (ii) changes in the landscape of the labor market.

In late 2019, we—the SMERU management and staff—finalized the SMERU Strategic Plan 2020–2024. The strategic plan aims to increase SMERU’s relevance and improve the institute’s financial sustainability. With our focus still on quality research to contribute to the formulation of pro-poor socioeconomic policies, SMERU intends to expand its reach to regional governments and nongovernmental stakeholders— especially the private sector.