JAKARTA (ILO News): Despite their long existence in Indonesia, subcontracted homeworkers, often referred as workers in the putting-out system, have been largely invisible because work is carried out at home by mostly women who also take care of household and family care responsibilities, and remunerative work is often considered as side activities carried out by women rather than real work.

Labour laws and national statistics do not include specific provision on home work and many homeworkers suffer from limited access to social and legal protection. Because of the informal work arrangements, homeworkers are mostly faced with decent work deficits such as low pay and long working hours.

As part of the effort to promote decent work for homeworkers in Indonesia, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will conduct a national seminar titled “Promoting Decent Work for Homeworkers” from 16-17 December in Jakarta.


The seminar is aimed to increase understanding on homeworkers’ issues through presentation of research findings and sharing of experiences, and through good practices and lessons learned on organizing homeworkers. The seminar also serves as a forum to advocate for the development of policies, programmes and practices to promote decent work for homeworkers in Indonesia.

“Despite their important roles in a global supply chain, homeworkers are still not recognized as workers in Indonesia. Therefore, through this national seminar, it is hoped that there will be better understanding and recognition for homeworkers as workers as part of the promotion of decent work for all homeworkers in Indonesia,” said Michiko Miyamoto, Deputy Director of the ILO in Indonesia, commenting on the importance of the seminar.

The seminar will present key findings from the research conducted by the ILO in collaboration with IKEA. The research examined employment relationships and working conditions of homeworkers in an IKEA rattan supply chain. The seminar will also presents good practices, lessons and strategies on organizing homeworkers based on experiences from Chile, India, the Philippines and Thailand over the last 30 to 40 years.

Lessons from several provinces including North Sumatra, Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java will be presented based on the previous ILO’s works in empowering homeworkers and improving their working conditions.

Seminar is conducted by the ILO through its Access to Employment and Decent Work for Women (MAMPU) Project in cooperation with the Ministry of Manpower. The Project has closely worked with the Ministry of Manpower, the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apind0), national trade union confederations and selected civil society organizations since 2014. The Project is part of the Empowering Indonesian Women for Poverty Reduction Programme (Maju Perempuan Indonesia untuk Penanggulangan Kemiskinan/MAMPU), funded by the Government of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of National Development Planning.

After almost two years of implementation, good progress has been made in empowering homeworkers and improving their working conditions in selected provinces. The ILO has also generated rich experience and data on homeworkers which are widely shared with relevant stakeholders and wider audience to increase their knowledge and work towards improving the living and working conditions of homeworkers.

In addition, a separate session with homeworkers’ organizations, trade unions as well as Apindo will be organized on 17 December, as part of the effort to further develop strategic plans for promoting decent work for homeworkers.

For further information regarding home workers, please refer to:
/jakarta/whatwedo/projects/WCMS_183299/lang--en/index.htm

For further information please contact:

Gita Lingga
Media Relation Officer
Tel.: (021) 391 3112 Ext. 115
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