Housing, homeownership and labour market change in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Globalisation, economic restructuring and structural adjustment are significant phenomena in contemporary society. Since the economic crisis in 1997, Indonesia’s market through economic reform has become more neoliberally-oriented, leading to the reduction of subsidies, the privatisation of state companies and the transformation of the labour market to become more flexible. This has influenced the shift from permanent employment to short-term contracting and outsourcing systems in Indonesia’s labour market, resulting in unsecure employment for many. Meanwhile, since Indonesia’s property prices started to pick up in 2004, growing house price inflation through the widespread commodification of housing has shown no signs of stopping – but on the contrary, experiencing annual growth. Declining affordability in housing costs, the increased housing shortage in urban areas, lack of finance availability and affordability, and increasing housing market speculation are important phenomena that have created insecurity within Indonesia’s housing markets. This study focuses on how labour insecurity has influenced the nature of housing consumption of households from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. In exploring both the labour and housing market, the study employs the ‘household strategies’ paradigm to understand the dynamics underlying the ‘housing careers’ of blue-collar and white-collar households. The study differentiates between these households by dividing them into three groups: ‘Defensive’, ‘Managing’ and ‘Improving’ households. This paradigm provides a useful way of understanding residential mobility via the operation of the housing market, exploring how the progression of the household through the housing stock is influenced by the diverse circumstances that prompt different economic strategies, each which seeks to protect that household from the harsh realities of the contemporary neoliberal condition.