JAKARTA: For some people, Jakarta is still a place that promises opportunities for a better life than their hometown, prompting them to move into the city after the Idul Fitri holiday to dare the rising costs and shrinking income in the capital.
Among them was Laras, 27, who is currently preparing to move to Jakarta from Bandung, West Java, where he has been struggling to get a job with the past three years. She believes the capital would offer better job opportunities.
“It makes sense that a lot of people dare to move to Jakarta even without proper preparation and competence. I myself feel desperate looking for a job in my own hometown,” Laras told The Jakarta Post on March 27.
But some who have moved to Jakarta may find the reality is not the same as their initial hope.
Luna Anjani, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Serang, Banten, said the job market in the capital was not as promising as many people commonly perceive. She moved to Jakarta last September in search of work, despite having no prior experience or any slightest insight of Jakarta’s job market.
Luna moved to the capital after being encouraged by her relative, who has been living in Jakarta for decades and assured her of promising job prospects.
“It was very difficult to find a job in Serang, so I moved to Jakarta. But it turned out to be just as difficult,” said Luna, who eventually found a job at a bakery in Senen, Central Jakarta after applying to dozens of vacancies.
Every year, especially after the Idul Fitri holiday when millions of Jakartans gather with their relatives in their hometown, the capital city usually sees an uptick of newcomers, although the trend slows down in recent years.
In 2022, Jakarta's provincial administration recorded that 27,478 people had moved to Jakarta after the Islamic holiday. Two years later, the figure dropped to around 16,200. This year, the Jakarta administration is expecting up to 12,000 newcomers.
The provincial administration attributed the drop to several factors, such as development in other regions and global economic uncertainties that contribute to the rising living cost in Jakarta.
“People from other regions also become more aware of the tough competition in Jakarta’s job markets,” the administration said in a statement on March 26.
“Jakarta is no longer the sole ‘magnet’ for jobseekers.” Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung previously said his administration would welcome newcomers this year to attain Jakarta’s vision of becoming a global city, but urged the people to register themselves with the civil registration officials to help authorities in population data recording.
Labour expert Tadjudin Nur Effendi from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said the rapid urbanisation in Jakarta commonly stems from people’s perception of a prosperous life in Jakarta.
During Idul Fitri holidays, Jakartan workers from other regions return to their hometowns where they meet friends and relatives and inspire them to join the hunt for fortune in the capital in a phenomenon Tadjudin called the “city lights effect”, often without acknowledging that moving to a big city without proper strength and skills carries a high risk of unemployment.
“It’s easy for the newcomers to see the glittering city of Jakarta, but they couldn’t see its dark side,” Tadjudin said.
“Job prospects are generally bleak at present, as we’ve recently seen mass layoffs. This will bring complications for the Jakarta government, due to the risk of increasing unemployment,” he went on to say.
To become a global city, Jakarta's administration needs to boost the quality of the city’s human resources to ensure the supply of labourers, including those coming from other regions, said urban expert Yayat Supriatna of Trisakti University.
“Especially for newcomers without higher education background, the Jakarta administration needs to provide educational support,” Yayat said, highlighting people coming from other regions are usually young people from vulnerable groups without work experience and tertiary education backgrounds.
These newcomers’ challenge would only become harder as they do not compete among themselves, but also native Jakartans who are also looking for work.
“As long as newcomers seeking jobs are not equipped with adequate preparation,” Yayat said, “the threat of urbanisation problems will grow amid the tight job market competition.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
