Determining the Unemployment Rate in Indonesia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Unemployment is one of Indonesia's main economic development problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to determine the chances of a person becoming unemployed in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, which individual and household characteristics influence. The data were collected from National Labour Force Survey (SAKERNAS) in August 2020. The data were analysed using a logistic regression model. The result proved that there was a significant opportunity between individual characteristics, namely age, gender, household head status, marital status, education level, training, work experience, and household characteristics, namely the number of household members, against unemployment. While the location of the household is not significant because this research was only conducted in the city centre so that with the same characteristics of the city in each region, the labour force living in the city is less likely to become unemployed. The coefficient value showed that women are more likely to become unemployed. Thus, the government is expected to focus on providing facilities to increase the human capital of the young female workforce, such as creating job training programs and mastering information and technology, given the changes in the digital age.