The Effect of Human Capital on Economic Growth Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic

According to endogenous theory, human capital plays a role in determining economic growth. This research was conducted because there is a phenomenon of imbalance between economic growth and the development of the quality of human resources that occurs in a region. The purpose of this study is to determine how much influence the composite indicators of the human development index and the labor force as human capital have on economic growth and to determine whether there is a significant difference between the average length of schooling and per capita expenditure before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This research is a quantitative type conducted on districts/cities in the former Kedu Prefecture of Central Java Province in the period 2017 to 2023. The secondary data used comes from the Provincial Statistics Agency and districts/cities. The research method used is panel data regression analysis and Eviews 10 software. Based on the research results and data analysis, it shows that: (1) Average length of schooling and labor force have a positive and significant effect on economic growth (2) Life expectancy, per capita expenditure, and investment have no significant effect on economic growth (3) Average length of schooling and per capita expenditure have no significant difference before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Local governments are expected to prioritize increasing the accessibility and quality of education to encourage skills training programs according to market needs and the leading sectors of each region.