April 11, 2025
JAKARTA – Jakarta is expected to welcome fewer newcomers following this year’s Idul Fitri holiday compared to previous years, despite Governor Pramono Anung’s decision not to carry out “justice operations” aimed at curbing urban migration.
In Muslim-majority Indonesia, the holiday is traditionally marked by the annual exodus (mudik) when city dwellers travel back to their hometowns bearing gifts and stories of life in the metropolis, often inspiring relatives to join them on the return trips in hopes of starting anew in big cities.
The Jakarta Civil Registration Agency, however, has recorded a steady decline in the number of incoming residents in recent years, with figures dropping from around 32,000 in 2022 to 28,000 in 2023, and further down to 16,000 in 2024. This year, the number is projected to fall even lower, reaching approximately 10,000 newcomers.
Analysts have attributed the trend to a range of issues facing the city of over 11 million residents, including soaring living costs and an increasingly competitive job market. Additionally, the lack of coordinated policies between the Jakarta administration and neighboring city governments has made resettling to the Greater Jakarta area less attractive.
While Pramono has made a public statement to welcome the newcomers and assist them in finding new jobs, top officials in some of Jakarta’s buffer zones tend to take a harsher approach.
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In a press conference at the City Hall on Tuesday, Pramono even said his administration will provide aspiring newcomers with opportunities to join skill-training programs at job centers. But the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician emphasized they should subsequently change their residential status on ID cards.
“We cannot have undocumented people. Once [newcomers] have ID cards [as Jakarta residents], we will give them the chance to join job training programs,” Pramono said.
On the other hand, the South Tangerang administration in Banten has prepared a joint team of officials and law enforcement authorities to conduct raids in a bid to vet out and send back people without employable skills.
“For newcomers who have skills and have found permanent jobs in South Tangerang, the city’s doors are always open. [But], if they do not have skills, they will just become a new burden [to the city],” South Tangerang Deputy Mayor Pilar Saga Ichsan said earlier this week, as quoted by Kompas.
Public policy expert Trubus Rahadiansyah suggested better coordination between Jakarta and its buffer zones.
“The government should have compiled data on the jobs needed in the Greater Jakarta area and made it accessible in an online portal. That way, people can decide for themselves if they are fit for a job here before making the move,” he said on Wednesday.
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Governor Pramono acknowledged the declining trend in urban migration in the capital and its surrounding areas, attributing it to the fact that Jakarta will soon lose its capital city status.
Urban planning expert Yayat Supriatna, however, attributed it instead to the city’s soaring living costs and increasingly competitive job market, where a bachelor’s degree is typically a requirement.
“A majority of newcomers hold a high school degree at best, keeping them from office jobs. Informal work is an option but does not necessarily guarantee them a better life compared to what they had in their hometowns,” Yayat said on Wednesday.
He went on to say that the decline also follows a wider trend of industries moving their factories to cities outside of the metropolitan area, where labor and living costs are cheaper and the job market less competitive.
“The Kendal and Brebes [regencies in Central Java], for instance, are now bustling with industry, and there are a larger number of jobs available there than the local population can fill up” Yayat added.