Indonesia faces a serious problem of limited job creation. There is a wide gap between high investment and job creation. If not addressed immediately, this will become a serious problem in the future. High investment and economic growth are accompanied by high unemployment rates.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that over the past ten years, the value of investment entering Indonesia has continued to increase. Conversely, job creation remains minimal. In fact, it continues to decline.

For comparison, in 2013, an investment of IDR 1 trillion could employ 4,594 workers. However, in 2021, an investment of the same value could only employ 1,340 workers. That figure dropped further in 2022, when an investment of IDR 1 trillion could employ only 1,081 people.

This fact means that the very high annual investment realization has been unable to reduce the unemployment rate. In 2021, inward investment reached IDR 901.2 trillion, and in 2022, it increased 33 percent to IDR 1,207.2 trillion. However, this does not automatically absorb a significant workforce to reduce the unemployment rate. The open unemployment rate (TPT) as of August 2022 reached 5.86 percent. In detail, there are 8.42 million unemployed people spread across Indonesia.