Wave of layoffs deflation herald bleak Eid for thousands of Indonesians

JAKARTA - The upcoming Lebaran, or Hari Raya Aidilfitri, celebrations will be less than festive for Mr Sriyono, 52, who, like many Indonesians, has a name with only one word.

He is one of the more than 10,000 workers at textile manufacturer PT Sri Rejeki Isman, popularly known as Sritex, who lost their jobs on Feb 26 after the company lost its court appeal against bankruptcy.

“I still can’t believe this... I didn’t change companies because it feels like family here. I feel so sad, I am speechless,” he told The Straits Times over the phone. He had worked at the company’s factory in Solo, Central Java, for 33 years, serving refreshments to foreign buyers who visited the plant.

The closure of Sritex, once South-east Asia’s largest textile manufacturer, comes after a wave of shutdowns in at least 60 other textile and garment manufacturers across Indonesia between January 2023 and December 2024, according to the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association.

It also follows closures of other large manufacturing companies in Indonesia in early 2025 – such as piano-maker Yamaha Music, Sanken Electronic, which produces electric components, and Danbi International, which produces fake eyelashes – that have resulted in thousands of job losses.

Some 60,000 workers from 50 companies lost their jobs in January and February, according to the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation in a media statement on March 15.

And more layoffs are in store for the year. Indonesia’s Centre for Research at the Parliamentary Expertise Agency estimates that 280,000 workers will be laid off in 2025, making it the highest annual number since the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw 3.6 million people lose their jobs in 2020.

This estimate translates into an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent of the country’s total working population, said Dr Muhammad Hanri,