At a glance

• Over 1 million Indonesians with at least a bachelor's degree are currently unemployed
• Management graduates are the single largest group among them, at 10.3%
• Law (9%), Economics (8.7%), Education (7.1%), and Accounting (5.1%) round out the top five
• These five majors together account for roughly 40% of all unemployed degree-holders
  
  

Somewhere in Jakarta right now, a 24-year-old with a Management degree is refreshing LinkedIn Jobs for the third time today. She is not alone. According to fresh data circulating from Indonesia's top economics faculty, Indonesia's unemployed university graduates have surpassed the 1 million mark  and Management, the major everyone's aunt told them to pick because it's "practical," is producing more jobless graduates than any other field of study.

The numbers come from the Institute for Economic and Social Research at Universitas Indonesia's Faculty of Economics and Business (LPEM FEB UI), which crunched BPS's Sakernas labor force survey from August 2025. Their report, titled "Ketika Akses Pendidikan Tinggi Bertambah, Apakah Pasar Kerja Siap?" ("As Access to Higher Education Grows, Is the Job Market Ready?"), was authored by researchers Muhammad Hanri and Nia Kurnia Sholihah.

What do the numbers actually show?

Among Indonesians with at least a bachelor's degree who are currently unemployed, 10.3% studied Management. Law graduates come next at 9%, followed by Economics at 8.7%, Education at 7.1%, and Accounting at 5.1%. Combined, these five majors account for around 40% of every unemployed sarjana in the country.

That's the crunchy, shareable stat. But here's the sensory detail that gets lost in the screenshots flying around Instagram: this isn't a ranking of "worst majors to study." It's a snapshot of who shows up most often in the unemployment line  and Management simply produces enormous numbers of graduates every year. More graduates, statistically, means more unemployed graduates, even if the field's actual failure rate isn't the worst.

LPEM FEB UI is explicit about this nuance. The researchers stress that raw percentages don't measure a major's true unemployment rate  that would require comparing jobless graduates against the total number of people who ever studied that subject, not just against other jobless people.

"The improvement is still more visible in numbers than in job quality," LPEM FEB UI researcher Muhammad Hanri noted, describing how Indonesia's broader labor market gains have masked what's happening to degree-holders specifically.

Why is graduate unemployment climbing?
Part of the story is supply. Indonesia has been rapidly expanding access to higher education, but LPEM FEB UI's brief points to a mismatch: the pipeline of graduates is growing faster than the market's ability to absorb them into roles that actually require a degree. The institute separately estimated that around 8 million Indonesian graduates are working jobs below their qualification level  baristas, admin staff, retail workers  a phenomenon economists call "overeducation."

Is this only about fresh graduates?
Not entirely. Sakernas tracks anyone actively job-hunting, including graduates from previous years still searching. The broader trend line is also worrying: the share of jobless Indonesians holding a Diploma IV, S1, S2, or S3 degree climbed from single digits a few years ago to over 14% by early 2026, per BPS figures cited in the same research cycle.

What should current students take from this?
LPEM FEB UI is careful not to tell 18-year-olds to avoid Management or Law altogether. The data reflects composition, not doom. But it's a useful nudge to research actual placement rates, internship pipelines, and industry demand before locking in a major  rather than assuming any degree is automatically a ticket to a paycheck.