1.05 million children aged 5–17 engaged in work in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (MNTV) – Despite strict labour laws that prohibit or tightly restrict work by minors, child labour remains a significant issue in Indonesia, reports Independent Observer.

According to the National Labour Force Survey (Sakernas) conducted by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), an estimated 1.05 million children aged 5–17 were engaged in work in August 2025, representing around 1.8% of all children in that age group.

In Indonesia, child labour is officially defined as “children aged 5–17 years who work in total hours beyond age-appropriate limits”.

Under national labour regulations, children aged 5–12 are prohibited from working altogether, those aged 13–14 are restricted to a maximum of 15 working hours per week, and adolescents aged 15–17 may not work more than 40 hours per week.

While 1.8% may appear modest in relative terms, the absolute number of more than one million children remains alarming. If left unaddressed, this situation risks undermining Indonesia’s long-term development ambitions, including its vision of achieving “Golden Indonesia” by 2045.

Recognising this threat, ASEAN’s latest roadmap, released in November 2025 for eliminating the worst forms of child labour, adopts a broader approach. Rather than focusing solely on children, it also targets improvements in decent work opportunities for young people.

The rationale is straightforward: when young adults are trapped in low-quality or precarious jobs, the likelihood that their children will also enter the labour market prematurely increases.

Preventing child labour, therefore, requires ensuring decent and stable employment for today’s youth.

Unfortunately, the quality of youth employment in Indonesia remains a serious concern. In 2025, only around 15% of young people aged 16–30 were employed in jobs requiring higher education qualifications, while just 16.6% worked in the manufacturing sector – traditionally a key driver of productivity and wage growth.

At the same time, 23.7% of employed youth worked excessive hours, reflecting poor job quality and weak labour protection (Statistics Indonesia, Youth Statistics 2025).

Barriers to labour market entry also persist, as indicated by a youth “NEET” (Not in Employment, Education or Training) rate of 22.9%. Given that nearly one-third of young people are already married, the quality of their employment matters not only for their own welfare but also for the future prospects of their children.

In 2009, Indonesia recorded around 1.7 million child labourers, accounting for approximately 2.8% of all children. Over the past 16 years, progress has been uneven.

Although the share declined to around 1.8% in 2025, it had risen to 2.17% in 2024.

Moreover, when broader forms of child labour are included, the number of working children in 2025 still reached an estimated 3.16 million. These figures suggest that child labour in Indonesia is persistent and that many working children remain at risk of transitioning into exploitative forms of labour.

In agricultural regions, children frequently assist their parents during harvest periods.

While some of these activities are culturally accepted, their economic consequences should not be underestimated.

According to the OECD (2019), child labour can suppress wage growth by expanding the supply of low-cost labour, discourage technological adoption by reducing incentives to invest in productivity-enhancing tools, and limit participation in international trade, as goods produced using child labour are often banned in global markets.

Fragmented responsibilities across ministries and agencies must be better coordinated to avoid policy gaps and institutional blame-shifting. Indonesia also needs to swiftly operationalise the ASEAN child labour roadmap agreed upon in 2025.