JAKARTA:  , It has been four times since Mr Muhammad Yudhi past had a stable job. Before being laid off in 2020 as a result of an economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 crisis, the 33-year-old motorbike taxi drivers used to operate at a cotton factory one hour south of Jakarta.
” I’ve been applying for stock work once more but they told me I’m very old. He told CNA that anyone wants to find cheap youths who are recently graduated from high school.
Being a motorcycle taxi driver does not provide the economic security and advantages found in shop work, according to Mr. Yudhi.  ,
” Even if you are on the road all day, the most you can make is 100, 000 rupiah ( US$ 6.51 ). After diesel and food, the most you take home with you is 70, 000 dirhams, usually less”, the father of two said.
Mr. Yudhi earns about 2 million dirhams per month, little enough to pay rent in a crowded area of Jakarta and provide for his family. It is a far cry from his time as a factory worker, where he received a regular income of 3.5 million dirhams plus wellness benefits and a quarterly benefit.  ,
” What can you get for 2 million dirhams”? he bemoaned. ” I ca n’t be a motorcycle taxi driver all my life. There’s no job security, no health coverage, nothing”.
In the past five decades, Mr. Yudhi is just one of the millions of Indonesians who have transitioned from the middle class to the young middle school.
According to the Indonesian Statistics Bureau ( BPS), there used to be 57.33 million middle-class Indonesians in 2019, representing 21.4 per cent of that year’s 267 million population.  ,
The latest BPS information, which was issued on Aug 28, but showed that the number of individuals categorised as middle-class has dropped to 47.85 million in 2024, or 17.1 per cent of the country’s recent inhabitants of 289 million.
The middle class is defined as those who have a monthly per capita consumption of between 2 million and 9 million dirhams, or 3.5 % to 17 days the poverty line according to the BPS.
During a legislative hearing on August 29th, BPS acting chief Dr. Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti claimed that the majority of those who once lived in the middle class have since been downgraded to the young end class.  ,
According to the statistics ministry, the number of young thick class- those who earn 1.5 to 3.5 times the hunger series or between 874, 398 and 2.04 million ringgit a month- rose from 128.85 million in 2019 to 137.5 million this year. They form 49.22 per share of Indonesia’s community.
” I’m sad”, Mr Yudhi said when asked how he felt about being demoted from the middle class demographic. It seems as though we are going sideways as a nation. Women’s security may be improving, never worsening”.
His family is a part-time home cleaner making only 600, 000 ringgit.  ,  ,
Their youngest brother was supposed to begin kindergarten this time. But with no money in the bank, the home decided to postpone the four-year-old’s knowledge by another time.
Some experts believe that the declining end class’s purchasing power and declining middle class may be the cause of an economic slump as the demand for goods declines.
“( The decline in Indonesia’s middle class ) is an alarm which signals that the economy is in danger”, Mr Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of think-tank Centre for Economic and Law Studies ( CELIOS ) told CNA.
In 2018, middle-class use accounted for 41.9 per cent of total home use in Indonesia.
By 2023, this number had dropped quickly to 36.8 per share, aligning with an overall decline in home use, according to statistics from , the Institute for Economic and Community Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia ( LPEM FEB UI).