Inequality and vulnerability of informal employment during the pandemic
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on formal and informal workers in the Indonesian construction industry. Based on a questionnaire survey of workers in the province of West Java, it aims to test the view that informal workers are more vulnerable to job losses, wage cuts and the lack of social security safety net. Two research questions were posed. The first was to characterise the impact of the COVID preventative measures on their access to work, work hours, and income levels. The second objective was to examine the implementation of COVID-19 health and safety protocols at project sites and its impact on workers. A survey conducted in November and December 2020 in the province of West Java obtained 261 responses from 21 construction companies. Contingency table testing was carried out to test the hypothesis that the frequencies of occurrence in the formal and informal worker categories are independent of the frequencies in incomes and health and safety protocols. Contrary to job losses and wage cuts report in the literature, construction companies in West Java have resisted cutting the wages of informal workers and instead directed wage cuts to their higher paid formal workers. Compliance to COVID-19 health and safety protocols at project sites was reported to be high. This study makes unique contribution to the understanding of informal work in the construction industry and the impact of the recent pandemic on the incomes and workers’ welfare.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share and adapt the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Open Access Citation Advantage Service). Where authors include such a work in an institutional repository or on their website (ie. a copy of a work which has been published in a UTS ePRESS journal, or a pre-print or post-print version of that work), we request that they include a statement that acknowledges the UTS ePRESS publication including the name of the journal, the volume number and a web-link to the journal item.
d) Authors should be aware that the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License permits readers to share (copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the work) for any purpose, even commercially, provided they also give appropriate credit to the work, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do these things in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests you or your publisher endorses their use.
References
Asian Development Bank and BPS-Statistics Indonesia, 2011. The informal sector and informal employment in Indonesia. Asian Development Bank.
Ayat, M., Malikah, and Kang, C.W., 2021. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction sector: A systemized review. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management,
Badan Pusat Statistik, 2020a. Konstruksi Dalam Angka 2020. BPS-Statistics Indonesia.
Badan Pusat Statistik, 2020b. Hasil survey social demografi dampak COVID-19. BPS-Statistics Indonesia.
Badan Pusat Statistik, 2021. Konstruksi Dalam Angka 2020. BPS-Statistics Indonesia.
Bushman, D., Sekaran, J., Jeffery, N., Rath, C., Ackelsberg, J., Weiss, D., Wu, W., Van Oss, K., Johnson, K., Huang, J., Khatun, U., Sheikh, T., Sutcliff, J. and Tsoi, B., 2021. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreaks at 2 Construction Sites—New York City, October–November 2020. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 73(Supp.1), pp.S81-S83.
Chan, T.K. and Pribadi, K.S., 2022. Construction in Indonesia: Looking back and moving forward, Routledge.
Chen, M., 2008. Informality and social protection: Theories and realities. IDS Bulletin, 39(2), Institute of Development Studies.
Fassani, F. and Mazza, J., 2020. A vulnerable workforce: Migrant workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Firman, T., 1991. Rural households, labor flows and the housing construction industry in Bandung, Indonesia. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 82(2), pp.94-105.
Hansen, S., Rostiyanti, S.F., Rizaldi, R. and Andjarwati, C., 2021. Quantity Surveyors’ Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Mixed Method Approach. Journal of the Civil Engineering Forum, 7(2), pp.177-186.
Heintz, J., 2012. Informality, inclusiveness, and economic growth: an overview of key issues. Amherst: Univ Massachusetts.
International Labour Organization, 2020. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on jobs and incomes in G20 economies. ILO-OECD paper prepared at the request of G20 Leaders Saudi Arabia’s G20 Presidency 2020.
Jackson, J.K., Weiss, M.A., Schwarzenberg, A.B. Nelson, R.M., Sutter, K.M. and Sutherland, M.D., 2020. Global economic effects of COVID-19. Congressional Research Service.
Kaming, P. F., Olomolaiye, P. O., Holt, G. D., & Harris, F. C., 1997. Factors influencing craftsmen's productivity in Indonesia. International journal of project management, 15(1), pp.21-30.
Kaur-Gill S., 2020. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Outbreak Inequality: Mainstream Reporting of Singapore’s Migrant Workers in the Margins. Frontiers in Communication, 5:65, pp.1-19.
Larasati, D., Ekawati, N., Triyadi, S., Muchlis, A.F. and Wardhani, A., 2021. Impact of the Pandemic COVID-19 on the Implementation of Construction Contracts. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 738(1):012075.
Lemieux, T., Milligan, K., Schirle, T. and Skuterud, M., 2020. Initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian labour market. Canadian Public Policy, 46(S1), pp.S55-S65.
Ministry of Public Works and Housing, 2020. Instruksi menteri pekerjaan umum dan perumahan rakyat Republik Indonesia No.02/1N/M/2020 tentang protocol pencegahan penyebaran corona virus disease (COVID-19) dalam penyelengaraan jasa konstruksi.
Octavia, J., 2020. Towards a National Database of Workers in the Informal Sector: COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Future Recommendations. CSIS Commentaries.
Ogunnusi, M., Hamma-Adama, M., Salman, H. and Kouider, T., 2020. COVID-19 pandemic: the effects and prospects in the construction industry. International Journal of Real Estate Studies, 14(S2), pp.120-128.
Olanrewaju, A., AbdulAziz, A., Preece, C.N., and Shobowale, K., 2021. Evaluation of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on the construction sites. Cleaner Engineering and Technology, 5, p.100277.
Olivia, S., Gibson, J. and Nasrudin, R., 2020. Indonesia in the Time of Covid-19. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 56(2), pp.143-174.
Patel, J.A., Nielsen, F.B.H., Badiani, A.A., Assi, S., Unadkat, V.A., Patel, B., Ravindrane, R. and Wardle, H., 2020. Poverty, inequality and COVID-19: the forgotten vulnerable. Public Health, 183, p.110.
Prajogo, D., Sohal, A., Dewi, R.S., Dewi, D.S., Sudiarno A., Widyaningrum R., Rahman A., Maryani A., Sebastian, E., and Brown, H., 2021. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS): Protecting the Indonesian Healthcare Workforce during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Australia-Indonesia Centre.
Rahman, M.A., Kusuma, A.Z.D. and Arfyanto, H., 2020. Employment situations of economic sectors impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. SMERU Issue Brief No.1/2020.
Sierra, F., 2021. COVID-19: main challenges during construction stage. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 29(4), pp.1817-1834.
Soemardi, B.W. and Pribadi, K.S., 2018. Developing construction industry human resources in Indonesia: Empowering the informal construction sector foreman for the industry. Asia Construct Conference, Kuching, Malaysia.
Soemardi, B.W., Soenaryo, I. and Wahyudi, E., 2011. The role and function of mandor in construction project organization in Indonesia. Procedia Engineering, 14, pp.859-864.
Suryahadi, A., Al Izzati, R. and Suryadarma, D., 2020. Estimating the impact of Covid-19 on poverty in Indonesia. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 56(2), pp.175-192.
UNICEF, UNDP, Prospera, and SMERU (2021). Analysis of the Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Households and Strategic Policy Recommendations for Indonesia. Jakarta.
Van Bavel, J.J., Baicker, K., Boggio, P.S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M.J. etal., 2020. Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(5), pp.460-471.
Wiebe, F., 1996. Income insecurity and underemployment in Indonesia's informal sector. Policy Research Working Paper 1639. The World Bank.
Woo, J. J., 2020. Policy capacity and Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy and Society, 39(3), pp.345-362.
Zheng, L., Chen, K. and Ma, L., 2020. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among construction industry practitioners in China. Frontiers in Public Health, 8(599769), pp.1-9.