TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Several business sectors have not been able to avoid the wave of layoffs, especially the digital startup industry. Nevertheless, there are some sectors expected to remain relatively impervious to job cuts, among them food and energy.

Yusuf Wibisono, director of the Institute for Demographic and Poverty Studies (IDEAS), said that industries that are safest from layoffs during recession are those related to basic necessities. "Such as the food sector, energy, education, and health," he told Tempo on Friday, December 9.

No matter how tough the situation is, he said, consumers' demand for products of said sectors will not go down significantly. On the other hand, people would cut down on buying durable goods such as property, automotive products and electronics.

With regards to the global recession, he said that sectors that will remain relatively safe from slimming down their workforce are those that are primarily oriented towards the domestic market. "Sectors that focus on the domestic market will be more able to survive, especially since our domestic market is very big with 272 million population."

He also predicted that trade, logistics, tourism, and sectors that rely on domestic tourists will survive—along with businesses that do not rely heavily on loans but instead depend more on internal treasuries.

Lastly, he said that sectors with upmarket consumers such as luxury goods and sectors with products that have become an inseparable lifedata-style of its consumers—such as cosmetics and internet—will also evade threats of layoffs. This is because these products have become part of a lifedata-style, thus consumers are willing to keep buying them whilst sacrificing other needs.

TEMPO.CO

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