What types of investment can drive job creation? How can Indonesia improve its investment climate and make doing business easier?

Public and private investment, particularly in large infrastructure projects, can help create employment. However, according to Indonesia’s Investment Coordination Board, domestic and foreign investment in new infrastructure in the period between July and September 2018 declined by 1.6% compared to the same period in the previous year. This decline impacted on employment figures, with a fall in the number of jobs created, from 213,731 in the third quarter of 2018, compared to 289,843 for the previous quarter.

To create more opportunities for decent work, Indonesia needs to increase quality investment, not only in infrastructure, but also in other sectors with the potential to drive growth in decent jobs. Greater investment outside Java is also needed to promote more equitable economic growth.

Stimulating investment will require improvements to the investment climate. Indonesia’s score on the World Bank’s 2019 Ease of Doing Business report rose slightly from 66.54 in 2018 to 67.96 in 2019. Nevertheless, further progress will require reforms to the system, not just procedures. Without these, Indonesia's target to increase quality investment and create more decent jobs will not be achieved.

This sub-theme aims to explore:

• The types of investment that can effectively stimulate job creation, now and in the future; 
• Policies and strategies to improve ease of doing business and incentivize investment, particularly outside Java; 
• Approaches to improving investment procedures, guidelines and operations, including using digital technologies; 
• Strategies to increase investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, tourism and other sectors across Indonesia;
• Strategies for improving the employment climate and human resource development in line with investment promotion, particularly outside Java.