Indonesia’s Recent University Graduates amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Employability and Resilience

Abstract

This study investigates the experiences of Indonesia’s fresh university graduates during the COVID-19 pandemic and their efforts to enter the world of work. We discuss this issue by referring to the scholarly discussion of youths’ transition to work in the post-industrial era, during which traditional full-time and life-long employment has given way to a more contingent employment landscape. This article relies on data collected from an online survey involving 800 fresh university graduates, in-depth interviews with 16 informants, and focus group discussions with 24 participants. It shows that most fresh graduates have had difficulty finding the jobs they desire during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, most of them have adapted resiliently through meaningful activities such as social networking, religious missions, and skill upgrading. We argue that fresh graduates in Indonesia have experienced multiple transitions without any order or regularity (i.e., fractured transitions), which has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study enriches our understanding of labor and employability by considering their noneconomic dimensions through an exploration of fresh graduates’ individual trajectories and socio-economic contexts, and echoes that youth transition is neither linear nor uniform