The Indonesian Digital Workforce Gaps in 2021–2025

Abstract

The development and advancement of information and communication technologies have led to major changes in industry and the labor system in Indonesia. In the context of the digital economy, Indonesia needs to immediately improve digital labor policies based on research results. However, studies on Indonesian digital workforces mostly come from global nonacademic publications, which acknowledge the limitation of the workforces. This study addresses the gaps between the supply and demand of digital workforces in 2021–2025 by conducting a Bayesian analysis on the data from the 2018 Indonesian Statistics Bureau and the 2020 ILO ICT job demand forecast. According to the findings, the supply of digital workforces will outnumber the demand, which is expected to be 600,000 workers per year. This surplus number poses a new challenge for the government if the available workforce lacks the competencies needed in the industry. According to the study, IT system programmer/developer/administrator/system analyst and IT web designer/developer will still be popular job roles during this time. It is suggested that improving these digital skills in the current and future workforces should be a top priority for the government.