Trapped in the Grip of Income Vulnerability: Who Earns Below or Above the Minimum Among Indonesian Gig Workers?
Keywords:
Gig economy gig workers income vulnerability minimum wageAbstract
The development of the gig economy in the digital era has opened up new opportunities in the job market. Jobs in this era offer flexibility in time, location, and work patterns. However, this flexibility also presents challenges in the form of income vulnerability. In general, gig workers are classified as informal workers, a category that is expected to remain dominant in the Indonesian workforce structure until 2024. Their proportion exceeds 50 percent and has even increased recently. Vulnerability will become even more apparent in 2025, when nearly 87 percent of regions in Indonesia will have self-employed workers in the service sector with an average monthly income below the minimum wage. Although several studies have highlighted the gig worker phenomenon in Indonesia, unfortunately, none have examined gig worker income vulnerability simultaneously at the individual, household, and regional levels. This study aims to analyze the determinants of gig worker income vulnerability in Indonesia. The research was conducted in stages, at three levels: individual, household, and regional, using a hierarchical logistic regression approach and drawing on data from the February 2024 Sakernas. The analysis results indicate that male gig workers, those with spouses, and those with work experience have a lower risk of earning below the minimum wage. Conversely, gig workers living in households with four or more members are at greater risk. Furthermore, high open unemployment and regional inflation further increase the risk of gig workers earning below the minimum wage. These findings confirm that gig worker vulnerability is not solely an individual issue, but is also influenced by household conditions and regional macroeconomic dynamics. Therefore, the government needs to design social protection policies, adaptive wage regulations, and skills development programs to protect gig workers better and increase their competitiveness. Furthermore, the government is expected to strengthen labor market stabilization and inflation control at the regional level.
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