Migrant workers and labor market recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a threat to migrant workers and employment dynamics in Indonesia. This study has two main objectives: to analyse the relationship between migration status and the probability of returning to work during the COVID-19, and to find out what factors can affect the chances of migrant workers’ job recovery during the pandemic. Using datasets sourced from the 2021 National Labour Force Survey (Sakernas), the multinomial logit estimate show that migrant workers generally have better recovery abilities than non-migrant workers and have a higher chance of being reemployed in the formal sector. The potential reason is the duration of migration and the degree of adaptation. However, the recovery process is not uniform, and the advantage of migrant workers is not consistently observed across all conditions. The study also provides several important findings regarding important aspects that can improve the recovery capacity of migrant workers including age, gender, pre-employment program participation, education, and location.