Legislating for Labour Protection: Betting on the Weak or the Strong?

Chris Manning
Additional contact information
Chris Manning: Head, Indonesia Project, Division of Economics, Research School of Pacific Studies, the Australian National University

Economics and Finance in Indonesia, 2005, vol. 53, 33-59

Abstract: This paper approaches the subject of labour standards from the standpoint of domestic labour market circumstances rather than international norms. The paper assesses government approaches to improving standards in the context of Indonesia's daunting 'employment challenge', and the capacity of institutions to implement reform since the fall of Soeharto. The discussion of recent reforms is divided into two parts: the affirmation of basic rights and freedoms, and legislation for the protection 'Survival' and 'Security' Rights. It is found that while the protection of labour freedoms is long overdue, there is mounting evidence that regulation of setting labour standards in the modern sector benefits the few with 'better' jobs. It penalises many less fortunate Indonesians in the informal sector and agriculture, and also younger, new job seekers. Owing to a significant improvement in Basic and Civil Rights, the compliance regime in relation to labour standards has altered dramatically in recent years. This has closed the gap between rhetoric and reality: between formal ratification and the actual impact of labour regulations on labour costs, while giving no obvious boost to productivity. It is of concern especially in those internationally labour-intensive industries such as textiles, footwear, and clothing (TCF), where Indonesia has had a comparative advantage in the past.

Keywords: Labour; Standards-Labour; Rights-Employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J38 J80 J88 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://lpem.org/repec/lpe/efijnl/200502.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lpe:efijnl:200502

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Economics and Finance in Indonesia from Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Muhammad Halley Yudhistira ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).