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"Our study found that homeworkers work 30 to 40 hours per week on average, sometimes even
more. However, they receive very low wages, less than Rp 500,000 [US$33] a month," SMERU
researcher Veto Tyas Indrio said on Monday.

In addition to the long hours and low wages, SMERU found that homeworkers generally had
poor working conditions. Most of them did not have any safety equipment, nor did they have
have work-related insurance.

Most of the homeworkers surveyed said that work safety was their primary concern, especially
since they typically worked in labor-intensive industries such as furniture and textile
manufacturing, including textile weaving. They also said that they often had to source safety
gear like masks and gloves on their own.

"Most of them feel that being supplied with [protective gear] is a luxury for homeworkers," said
Veto, stressing that homeworkers were generally more vulnerable than other types of informal
workers.
"In general, they work without any written contracts. Some of them are subcontracted through
middle men," he said.

Dharendra Wardhana, who heads the legal analysis division at the National Development
Planning Board (Bappenas), said that the poor working conditions of homeworkers was a timely
and highly relevant issue in light of the COVID-19 health emergency.

"A Bappenas study projects that most new jobs in the future will be created in the informal
sector, including homeworking. However, it would be difficult to [regulate] these issues in
national regulations, as the deliberation of the new omnibus law on job creation has stalled amid
the pandemic," he said.

Dharendra said that for now, the most realistic course to take in improving the working conditions
of homeworkers was to provide awareness and training programs on topics such as labor rights
and workplace health and safety.

He also urged scholars and researchers to dig deeper into the issue to provide more evidence-
based insights.

"More research is crucial to bring this issue to a wider audience," he said..

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