Socio-environmental background consists of place of birth, region, ethnicity, religion of mother and migration status. Place of birth has a substantial effect on search behaviour. The probabilities of searching for a job, both while employed and while unemployed, and out of the labour force were higher among urban-bom than rural-bom youth. The gaps were 19, 4 and 9 per cent respectively. They were also less likely than the rural-bom to be in the ENS category. Searching for a job either while employed, openly unemployed or out of the labour force seem to be more affordable for urban-bom youth (Figure 5.6), probably because, in these data, most of them, ranging from 73 per cent in Jakarta to 87 per cent in Surabaya, lived in their parents’ house (Daliyo, 1995: 66). Therefore, they have more support, at least accommodation from their parents and possibly social networks in the cities. Rural- bom youth were less likely to have such facilities or support. A reason for this is may be that most of them came to their current residence after their applications were accepted.
There was no significant difference in search behaviour among young people with different ethnicities. Nevertheless there were clearly different tendencies. In contrast to human capital theory which suggests a positive relationship between resource and search intensity, the Babesuma ethnic group that appears to have ‘poor’ resources shows a greater likelihood of continuing the search. Probably ‘social norms’ or value systems in which sexual division of labour is defined rather than ‘resources’ pushed the Babesuma to search more intensively. In the Babesuma ethnic group, sexual division of labour is stronger than in the Javanese and ‘other’ ethnic group. This may put pressure on males of the Babesuma to search for a decent job; males were expected to be the sole economic backbone of the household, since the females were more likely to be out of the labour force (Chapter 4, Table 4.6). The economic burden on the males resulted in a high probability of searching for alternative jobs. This cultural value in turn allocates them across search modes more evenly than the Javanese. As a result, there was a higher probability of becoming job seekers while employed (the gaps were around 30 per cent) or unemployed (the gaps were around 2 per cent) as well as out of the labour force (the gaps were above 14 per cent) among youth of the Babesuma ethnic groups relative to the Javanese (Figure 5.7). Javanese cultural values, on the other hand, provide fewer barrier to females’ participation in the labour force (their probability of being out of the labour force being only 3 per cent), because sexual division of labour is weak. Greater participation in the labour force among Javanese females may put less pressure on the Javanese family, so once they are employed, they were more likely (87 per cent) to be the ‘employed not seeking alternative job’ category. If there is a positive relationship between search behaviour and sexual division of labour as part of social reproduction, this clearly supports Bourdieu’ view that ‘habitus’ (way of thinking, norms) also determine ‘practice’ of job search. Another argument, which also support
his formula : Practice= (habitus x resource) + field) is that Babesuma are minority groups and having less access to the modem sector, have narrow fields of possibility and as a result cannot find appropriate jobs. So they continued seeking a job because of ‘coercion’ (limited social space resulting from their minority status) as assumed by social reproduction theory, rather than because of adequate resources as assumed by human capital theory.
Figure 5.7 Figure 5.8 Search probability by
ethnicity, school leavers 15 to 29 years, three cities of
Java, 1994
□ us
□ ES ■ ENS ■ OLF
Search probability by region, school leavers 15 to 29 years,
three cities of Java, 1994
JKT SMG SBY □ US □ ES ■ ENS ■ OLF Figure 5.9 Probability of finding matched job by region, employees 15 to 29 years, three cities of Java, 1994 (%)
Source: Survey Data ‘The Dynamics o f Youth Education and Employment’, 1994.
OLF=Out o f the labour force.ENS=Employed not searching for a job.ES=Employed searching for a job.U S= Unemployed searching for a job.
The local labour market has a strong effect on search behaviour (Figure 5.8). Young people in Jakarta were more likely to be out-of the labour force and less likely to search for alternative job if they were employed than those in other cities. Jakarta youth might prefer to stay out of the labour force if they found job offer that were less preferable, but once they took a job they couldn’t search for alternative jobs, since searching for an alternative job while employed may be difficult because of
longer travelling time and limited after-work hours. Young people in Semarang, on the other hand, were more likely to search for a job while employed than those in other cities. At least two explanations are possible: first, the economic reason which tallies with the fact that in Central Java, of which Semarang is the capital, the average monthly wage in 1990 was 63.700 rupiah while in Jakarta, and in East Java where Surabaya is the capital, the monthly wage was 150.600 and 71.900 rupiah (Ministry of Manpower, 1993: Table 89). So lower average income rather than social support may force Semarang youth to find alternative jobs. Therefore, it is understandable that employees outside Jakarta tended to say that their jobs were mismatched (Figure 5.9).
The second reason is that in Semarang, as mentioned by Daliyo (1995:77-78, and Appendix Tables B-9A and B-9B), a high proportion of employees had an occupation that was similar to their parents’ occupation. For example, 40 per cent of the male workers in Semarang were in the trade sector, and almost half of them had fathers who were working in this sector. The similarity between son’s occupation and father’s occupation possibly means that most of these young people were working with their parents, and their current jobs were regarded as temporary until they found alternative jobs. The combined effects of low income and the pursuit of independence from their parents may have resulted in a high probability of seeking alternative jobs among employees in Semarang.
Figure 5.10 Figure 5.11 Search probability by
mother’s religion, school leavers 15 to 29 years, three
cities of Java, 1994
Non- Moslem
moslem
Probability of finding matched job by mother's religion, employees 15 to 29 years, three cities of Java, 1994 (%)
s t ill
Moslem moslemSource: Survey Data ‘The Dynamics of Youth Education and Employment’, 1994.
OLF=Out o f the labour force. ENS=Employed not searching for a job.ES=Employed searching for a job. US= Unemployed searching for a job
Non-Moslem youth were significantly more likely to be openly unemployed (the US gap was 7 per cent), but 6 per cent less likely to be out of the labour force than young people with a Moslem mother. They were also more likely to be in ENS (the ENS gap was 21 per cent), and less likely to be in ES category (the ES gap was 22 per cent) (Figure 5.10). The smaller likelihood of seeking a job while employed among children of non-Moslem mothers apparently was a result of effective contact with employers 1, as later indicated in Chapter 6, Table 6.5: they were more likely to get help in finding a job than children of Moslem mothers. That is why the result of the search (while unemployed) was also more likely to match their educational qualification (indicated in Figure 5.11).
1 Around h a lf o f non-M oslem (170 out o f 348) were Chinese in this study. In general, m ost n on-M oslem are in the m odem sector. Around one-third o f non-Moslem fathers had a trades occupation; only 23 per cent o f Moslem fathers had this occupation.
This finding contradicts the luxury hypothesis and human capital theory and supports the social reproduction theory which suggests that the limited field of possibility (among children of Moslem mother) forced them into disguise unemployment that was manifested in the continuation of the search for a job because they found inappropriate jobs.
Migration status also has a substantial impact on search behaviour (Figure 5.12). Assuming that everything was equal, migrants were 10 per cent more likely to be out of the labour force, 17 per cent more likely to search for a job while employed and 21 per cent less likely to be not searching for a job if they were employed. Migrants have limited social contacts and lack family supports for job search in the areas of destination, while non-migrants seem to be more settled and have much support from their parents to remain out-of the labour force or to find match job. The fact that migrants were more likely to be out of the labour force and continue searching for job contradicts the luxury hypothesis. Their habitus and probably limited room to maneuver forced them to be out of the labour force and continue the search if employed. This finding supports social reproduction theory.
Figure 5.1 2 S e a rc h p r o b a b i l i t y by m i gr at i o n s t a t us , s c h o o l leavers 15 to 29 y ea rs , thr ee cities o f J a v a , 1994. Non-mig. Migrant
Source: Survey Data ‘The Dynamics o f Youth Education and Employment’, 1994. OLF=Out o f the labour force. ENS=Employed not searching for a job