November 6, 2025 | 12:39 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported that the working population in the country is still dominated by elementary school graduates. Only about 13.06 percent of Indonesian workers hold diplomas or university degrees.
In August 2025, about 34.75 percent of workers in Indonesia are elementary school graduates, or below. But Deputy Head of Balance and Statistical Analysis at BPS, Moh. Edy Mahmud stated the percentage continues to drop.
"If compared to the previous August, the percentage of workers with elementary school education or below has decreased, while there is an increase in workers with a diploma," he said at a press conference at the BPS head office in Jakarta on November 5, 2025.
BPS outlined that there are 146.54 million Indonesians who fall into the working population category. About 50.92 million of them are elementary school graduates or below. There are 25.08 million graduates of Junior High School (SMP), 31.05 million graduates of Senior High School (SMA), and 20.36 million graduates of Vocational High School (SMK).
Meanwhile, there are 3.25 million workers with a diploma and 15.88 million graduates with a Bachelor's degree or higher.
Education levels can indicate the quality and productivity of the workforce. The distribution of the working population according to the highest education completed by August 2025 still shows the same pattern after two years.
Compared to August 2024, the working population with education levels of elementary school and below, Junior High School, and Diploma experienced a decline, each by 1.05, 0.51, and 0.10 percentage points, respectively. On the other hand, the working population with Senior High School, Vocational High School, and Bachelor's degree or higher education levels rose, with the largest at the Vocational High School level by 1.03 percentage points.
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