TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The University of Indonesia's Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM UI) recorded an increase in the average salary or net income of workers in several sectors as of February 2021 albeit amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The highest hike is experienced by the electricity and gas sectors, reaching 5 percent year on year.

“This indicates a tendency [for the two sectors] to be more resilient compared to other sectors,” said LPEM UI researchers Muhammad Hanri and Nia Kurnia Sholihah in the February 2021 report of the Social and Labor Protection Study Group published in June 2021.

The wage increase was also experienced by workers in the sectors of manufacturing, government administration, defense, and mandatory social security with a one-percent hike year on year.

However, many sectors still hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to the decline in the welfare of workers.

Workers in the mining and quarrying sector, for example, saw a decline in income of up to 22 percent year on year. The same contraction was also felt by workers in the accommodation and food and beverage sector whose income decreased by 10 percent. Meanwhile, the decline in salaries for workers in the transportation and warehousing sector fell nine percent.

“This condition shows that the pandemic, restrictions on economic activity, and regional restrictions cause impacts on the declining demand in those sectors,” the report said.

LPEM UI concluded that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has prompted an economic slowdown. As a result, there is an adjustment to the demand and supply of labor in the labor market, which affects indicators of labor welfare such as wages.

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FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA