Industrialization, globalization, and labor market regime in Indonesia

This paper examines globalization, industrialization, and labor markets in Indonesia using a case study of manufacturing. It attempts to answer the question of how changes in the labor market after the 1997–1998 Asian Financial Crisis affected industrialization and labor market performance. The paper generates three main findings. First, the responsiveness of output to employment and wages to employment declined substantially over the period 1996–2006 but recovered in 2009. The decline could be a consequence of the implementation of rigid labor laws since 2003. The recovery in 2009 may reflect firms’ adjustment period to the new environment or simply that firms found different opportunities. Second, exporters generally show higher employment elasticity than non-exporters. However, since the implementation of the labor law, exporters tend to retain employment more than non-exporters when wages rise. Third, exporters began substituting labor with machinery as wages started rising.