Indonesian Mosaic RRI Sibolga "Poverty and Unemployment"

On Wednesday (07/02/2024), the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Sibolga City had the opportunity to fill in the Indonesian Mosaic program, RRI Sibolga City. Mosaik Indonesia is broadcast live via RRI Pro 1 on Frequency 91.22 FM, and the RRI Sibolga Facebook channel at 15.00-16.00 WIB. The theme of the Indonesian Mosaic is "Poverty and Unemployment". The event was hosted by Edi Suheri with resource persons Rosmiana Hasibuan, Chair of the Sibolga City BPS Social Statistics Team and Evalinda Margareta Situmorang, Chair of the Sibolga City Production Statistics Team, accompanied by Muhammad Alpian, member of the Social Statistics Team.

The RRI Sibolga Indonesian Mosaic event was informative and educational. This program aims to provide education and statistical literacy to RRI listeners regarding Poverty and Unemployment. Rosmiana said that to calculate the poverty rate, BPS conducted the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas). Susenas is one of the surveys used by central and regional governments to provide data and indicators for development planning and evaluation. In general, through Susenas a portrait of the progress of social and economic development of society can be obtained. Susenas is held twice a year, namely March and September.

To estimate poverty, BPS goes to the field to collect data through direct interviews (face to face) between enumerators and respondents using questionnaires. Respondents from selected households are the head of the household, husband/wife, or other household members who know the exact characteristics of the household in question. Communities that will be recorded through Susenas are selected using a 2 stage stratification sampling method (Census Block (BS) selection and household selection).

Rosmiana also said that the Poverty Line for Sibolga City in 2023 will be at IDR 568,188 per capita per month. This figure increases by around 51,821 thousand rupiah compared to the Poverty Line in 2022 of IDR 516,367.-. Population with monthly per capita expenditure below the poverty line is said to be poor. The percentage of poor people in Sibolga City in March 2023 was 11.42 percent, a decrease of 0.05 percent compared to the percentage of poor people in March 2022 of 11.47 percent.

The second resource person, Evalinda, explained several important basic employment concepts, such as: working age population, labor force, non-labor force, working population and unemployment. The working age population is divided into two groups, namely the labor force and the non-labor force. The labor force consists of the working age population who are employed (to earn income/profit) and the unemployed. Meanwhile, the non-labor force consists of people of working age who in the reference period were neither working nor unemployed, consisting of the potential workforce, people who want work but are not looking for it and are not willing, and people who do not want to work. The main data source used is National Labor Force Survey (Sakernas) data.

Evalinda also said that the population of Sibolga City who worked in August 2023 was 44,194 people, an increase of 5,261 people from August 2022. The job opportunities that experienced an increase were agriculture (2.06 percentage points). Meanwhile, employment that experienced the largest decline was the services sector (1.17 percentage points). The main occupation of the population in August 2023 will be laborers/employees/employees (52.93 percent). The employment status that experienced the largest increase was that of being employed by permanent and paid workers (3.37 percent) and that that experienced the largest decrease was family/unpaid workers (4.08 percentage points).

At the end of the dialogue, the two speakers emphasized that the people of Sibolga City should accept the arrival of survey and census officers carried out by BPS Sibolga City, especially Susenas and Sakernas. These two surveys are currently ongoing, so that accurate data can be obtained and can be used as reference data in planning and evaluating development programs in Sibolga City, especially regarding poverty and unemployment. Hopefully the poverty and unemployment levels in Sibolga City will decrease in the following years. Oiii dusanak..!