Growth should be measured by the quality of jobs it creates
In Jakarta, Indonesia convened a rare gathering of government, business, labour, and civil society voices to confront a question as old as development itself: when a nation grows wealthier through trade, who truly benefits? The answer, experts and officials agreed, is never guaranteed by growth alone — it must be deliberately built into the architecture of trade agreements and investment rules from the very beginning. With an economy expanding at five percent and ambitions set at eight, Indonesia stands at a moment where the choices made now about labour standards and worker protections will shape the lives of millions for decades to come.
- Indonesia's rapid economic growth and ambitious trade partnerships carry a quiet risk: prosperity that bypasses the workers who produce it.
- A national seminar in Jakarta exposed the gap between trade agreements that promise decent work on paper and the harder work of making those promises real in factories, supply chains, and labour markets.
- An unusually broad coalition — ministers, employers, union advocates, academics, and civil society — gathered precisely because no single ministry or sector can solve this alone; the problem lives at every intersection of trade law, investment policy, and labour rights.
- Two ILO-backed programs, IMPLEMENT and RealGains, are actively monitoring whether Indonesia's trade arrangements translate into quality jobs, fair wages, and protections against gender discrimination and child labour.
- The seminar's underlying urgency was clear: countries that chase growth first and address labour exploitation later rarely correct course — Indonesia has the momentum now to integrate these standards before the patterns harden.
In Jakarta this week, Indonesia brought together an unusually broad coalition — government officials, business leaders, workers, academics, and civil society representatives — to wrestle with a deceptively simple question: when a country grows richer through trade and investment, do ordinary workers actually feel it?
The answer, according to officials from Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the International Labour Organization, is that it never happens automatically. Trade can expand markets, attract capital, and create jobs — but those gains don't distribute themselves fairly without deliberate policy choices. Threading labour standards and worker protections directly into trade agreements and investment rules isn't optional; it's the difference between growth that lifts people and growth that leaves them behind.
Indonesia is currently growing at roughly five percent annually and has set its sights on eight. Its trade relationships with Canada, the United States, and Asian partners are, according to Acting Deputy Dida Gardera, explicitly designed to uphold human rights and promote decent work. But the seminar — part of a three-day national dialogue — was convened precisely because aspiration and implementation are different things.
ILO Country Director Simrin Singh framed the stakes plainly: the real measure of trade and investment is the quality of jobs they create and the opportunities they open. The dialogue was about finding practical pathways to make growth more inclusive — a statement that sounds obvious until you consider how often it fails in practice.
The seminar was organized under two ILO initiatives: IMPLEMENT, supported by the Government of Flanders, which focuses on stakeholder engagement for decent work in trade arrangements, and RealGains, backed by Canada, which targets trade gains free from gender discrimination and child labour. Both programs rest on the same recognition — that global supply chains have real consequences for real people, and that cutting corners on labour standards distorts competition and harms businesses that do things right.
What the seminar ultimately argued was that Indonesia is at a pivot point. The evidence from other countries is clear: workers exploited early in a supply chain don't gain protections simply because a country gets richer. The time to build labour standards into the framework is now, while the architecture of growth is still being designed.
In Jakarta this week, Indonesia gathered government officials, business leaders, workers, and civil society representatives around a single question: How do you make sure that when a country grows richer through trade and investment, ordinary workers actually feel it?
The answer, according to officials and international labour experts who convened for a seminar organized by Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the International Labour Organization, is not automatic. Trade and investment can drive economic progress. They can expand markets, create jobs, attract capital. But those gains don't naturally distribute themselves fairly. Without deliberate policy integration—without threading labour standards and worker protections directly into the fabric of trade agreements and investment rules—growth can leave people behind.
Indonesia is currently expanding at roughly five percent annually and has set its sights on eight percent. The country maintains substantial trade relationships with Canada, the United States, and numerous Asian partners. These agreements, according to Dida Gardera, the Acting Deputy for Coordination of Industry, Employment and Tourism at the Coordinating Ministry, are explicitly designed to uphold human rights and promote decent work. But saying it and achieving it are different things. The seminar, held as part of a three-day national dialogue, was meant to bridge that gap—to move from aspiration to implementation.
Simrin Singh, the ILO's Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, framed the challenge plainly: trade and investment are powerful, but their real measure should be the quality of jobs they create and the opportunities they open for workers. The dialogue, he said, was about finding practical pathways to make growth more inclusive, to strengthen labour standards, and to ensure that no one is left behind. It's a statement that sounds obvious until you consider how often it fails in practice.
The seminar brought together an unusually broad coalition. Government representatives sat alongside employers and worker advocates. Academics and civil society organizations participated. Officials from the Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming attended, as did staff from the Coordinating Ministry focused on productivity and labour ecosystem development. The breadth of the room reflected the complexity of the problem: trade policy, investment rules, labour law, and economic development don't operate in separate silos. They intersect constantly. A trade agreement that opens markets but weakens labour protections is a contradiction. An investment incentive that attracts factories but allows wage suppression defeats the purpose of growth.
The event was framed as part of two larger ILO initiatives. The first, called IMPLEMENT—Trade and investment arrangements: Implementation and stakeholder engagement for promoting decent work—is supported by the Government of Flanders in Belgium. The second, RealGains, focuses on realizing trade gains free from gender discrimination and child labour, and is backed by Canada. Both programs recognize that the architecture of global trade has real consequences for real people. A supply chain that cuts corners on labour standards doesn't just harm workers; it distorts competition and undermines businesses that do things right.
What emerged from the seminar was a recognition that Indonesia is at a pivot point. The country has the economic momentum and the policy tools to shape how its growth unfolds. It can choose to integrate labour standards into its trade and investment frameworks from the start, or it can chase growth first and hope to fix labour problems later. The evidence from other countries suggests the latter approach doesn't work. Workers who are exploited early in a supply chain don't suddenly gain protections once a country gets richer. The seminar was, in essence, an argument for getting it right now.
Citas Notables
Trade and investment can be powerful drivers of progress, but their real success should also be measured by the quality of jobs they create and the opportunities they open for workers and businesses alike.— Simrin Singh, ILO Country Director for Indonesia and Timor-Leste
Indonesia maintains strong trade agreements with partners such as Canada, the United States and countries across Asia to support global trade and supply chains that uphold human rights and promote decent work for all.— Dida Gardera, Acting Deputy for Coordination of Industry, Employment and Tourism
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Indonesia need to have this conversation now, specifically? Isn't growth itself enough?
Growth alone doesn't guarantee that workers benefit. You can have five or eight percent annual growth and still have people working in unsafe conditions for wages that don't cover basic needs. Indonesia is trying to avoid that trap.
But doesn't trade naturally create jobs? Why would you need to deliberately integrate labour standards?
Trade does create jobs, but the quality varies wildly. A factory can employ hundreds and still violate basic rights. Without standards written into the agreements themselves, there's no enforcement mechanism. A company can just move to the next country with looser rules.
So this seminar was about getting employers and workers in the same room to agree on something?
Partly. But it was also about getting government to commit to a different approach—one where trade policy and labour policy aren't separate conversations. They're the same conversation.
What does that look like in practice?
It means when Indonesia negotiates a trade deal with Canada or the US, the agreement includes specific labour standards and monitoring. It means investment incentives don't go to companies that suppress wages. It means the rules are clear from the start.
And if a company doesn't comply?
That's where the integration matters. There are consequences built into the trade agreement itself. It's not just a labour ministry hoping for compliance; it's a trade partner enforcing it.