East Nusa Tenggara Jobless Rate Stood at 3.35% in August 2019

Kupang — East Nusa Tenggara’s open unemployment rate stood at 3.35% in August 2019, with the number of unemployed people at 83,030, according to figures cited by BPS Nusa Tenggara Timur and reported by local media on 5 November 2019.

The year-on-year increase was 8,300 people from August 2018, when unemployment was 74,700, while employment fell to about 2.39 million from roughly 2.41 million a year earlier, the reports said.

Labour market structure

Agriculture remained the province’s biggest employer, absorbing 48.7% of workers, or about 1.17 million people, according to the same reports.

Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 10.97% of employment, while manufacturing contributed 10.26%.

Darwis Sitorus, head of BPS NTT, said the province ranked fifth-lowest among Indonesia’s 34 provinces for open unemployment at the time and noted that tourism had job-creation potential if developed more quickly, according to the local report.

Context

The August 2019 figures referred to a BPS labour-force release comparing August 2019 with August 2018, not to a current labour-market update for 2026.

The province’s dry-season weather conditions were cited as one factor affecting farm work and contributing to lower agricultural absorption, according to the local report.

Sources

• Garda Indonesia
• Poros Nusantara