Mapping Survey: Bali and Surabaya

Important Findings

• Marital Status and Age as Correlated with Homework
• Women HBw in Relation to their Families
• Informality of Homebased Work
• Varying Degrees of Vulnerability
• Homebased Work not just a Side Job
• Homebased Work: The Best Choice
• Marketing Skill Lacking
• Unhealthy Work Place
• The Need to Organize
• Recommendations
• Follow-up Action

Marital Status and Age
as C orrelated with Homework

The study indicated that marital status is an important factor since homebased work provides flexibility for married women to perform their dual roles as housewives and as workers. Ninety percent of respondents in Surabaya and Bali were married. Respondents with ages ranging from 15 to 45 were able to do homebased work for as long as it did not require a lot of energy to do the job. There were only few respondents 45 and above (only 10 percent in Bali and three percent in Surabaya) due to the monotonous nature, dexterity, and long hours of work required.

Women HBWs in Relation to their Families

Thirty percent of the respondents mentioned that their husbands regarded them as breadwinners comparable to men as well as the source of added income for the family. The latter view implies the secondary role that women play in their families since the men are considered as the main breadwinners.

Half of the respondents in Bali and Surabaya worked without getting help from anyone. The rest of the respondents stated that they got help from family members such as husbands, in-laws, or children who did not get paid for helping. More than half of the respondents said that they could not get another job because of inability to leave the house. Their obligation to perform domestic work prevented them from being more economically productive. This indicates the absence of partnership within the household whereby domestic work becomes the responsibility of both men and women.

Informality of Homebased Work

Communication between HBWs and their subcontractors was all verbal and none relied on written record or written work agreement. This situation emphasized the role played by intermediaries who gave out the work, deadline and payment. In this study, more than half of the respondents obtained their work from intermediaries, which put them at a disadvantage. HBWs were always at the mercy of the employer, if not the intermediary. They need to be empowered by encouraging them to learn about their rights such as demanding an agreement before accepting work.

Varying Degrees of Vulnerability

There were differences in the degree of vulnerability between homeworkers in the industrial sector in Surabaya and those in the tourism sector in Bali. This meant that the type of job had a bearing on the workers’ economic conditions. In this study, workers producing certain handicrafts in Bali were paid relatively better than those who worked in the manufacturing sector in Surabaya. These goods include finely made Balinese traditional woven material, silver work, and works of art. The piece rate payment for these comprise a much higher cost share in the production process than that in Surabaya.

In Bali, 82 percent of the respondents said that their decision to participate in homebased handicraft work was based on the fact that it gave them significant income. However, it should be borne in mind that the cost of living in Bali is higher than in Surabaya.

The piece rate for respondents in manufacturing was too low(US$ 1 cent –US$ 1.5) compared to the time spent in doing the job. The respondents in Surabaya said that their main reason for working as HBWs was the flexibility in work hours which enabled them to do other work. Only 32 percent of the respondents said that the homebased work was their main source of income, meaning that their income as HBWs was insufficient to meet their basic daily needs.

However, the majority of respondents both in Bali (90 percent) and in Surabaya ( 78 percent) admitted that homebased work was very useful for generating additional income even though it was not much.

Almost all respondents stated that homebased work was exhausting.

Homebased Work not just a Side Job

Sixty two percent of respondents in Surabaya and 58 percent of respondents in Bali worked between seven to 10 hours per day. This indicated that homebased work was not only a side job, consistent with the response given by 82 percent of respondents in Bali and 73 percent of respondents in Surabaya that homebased work was their main job. Generally, they spent six days a week doing homebased work, although the type of work might vary. The long hours needed to do homebased work made it a tiring job, contradicting the opinion that homebased work was only for killing time.

While it was true that HBWs had flexible hours and were free to choose when to work and when to take their break, during the peak season, flexibility ceased to exist since they were required to meet their production quotas regardless of the number of hours they had already put in.

Homebased Work: The Best Choice?

Although more than 70 percent of the respondents considered their job to be their main activity, this work was not their first choice. The respondents in Surabaya and Bali claimed that their main reason for taking homebased work was because there were no other jobs or that there was no opportunity to look for another job. The lack of capital and marketing skills was cited as the main obstacle for the HBWs in both the handicraft and manufacturing industries from becoming self-employed.

Despite these, only 20 percent of the respondents from Bali and merely 15 percent of the respondents in Surabaya stated their intention to quit. This could mean that although homebased work did not improve their social and economic status, it was still of benefit to them. This could also imply the workers’ total inability to find an alternative job.

Marketing Skill Lacking

Fifty six percent of the respondents in Bali and 81 percent of respondents in Surabaya knew the subsequent processes applied to their unfinished products. More than 67 percent of the respondents in the two areas of survey did not know the brand or label of their products in the market and just half of the respondents knew where their products would be sold. However, from the FGDs, the majority of the respondents did not know how their employers entered the market and what marketing strategy they employed. This was cited by the HBWs as a hindrance to self- employment and their desire to be independent workers.

Unhealthy Work Place

Forty eight percent of respondents in Surabaya and 33 percent in Bali listed health problems related to work. This was due to their unhealthy work place, usually a dirty, dark, cramped working area, lacking in ventilation. HBWS also had a low awareness of occupational health and safety. Common health problems cited by workers in Surabaya included back pain (92%), joint pains (60%), strained neck (32%), and headache (60%), while 28% had met accidents in their work place. In Bali, HBWs suffered from joint ache (57%), back pain (38%), eye infection (14%), and stiff neck (46%). Given such situations, it is imperative that health and safety issues be addressed.

The Need to Organize

Competition among large numbers of workers for the small number of available jobs contributed to low wages. It was in this context that majority of the respondents (83 percent in Surabaya and 72 percent in Bali) recognized the pressing need to organize or to create associations with other HBWs for stronger bargaining power with subcontractors. Organizations also serve as avenues for linking or communicating with fellow workers, and for voicing issues and concerns.

RECOMMENDATIONS

For so long as the government is unable to create sufficient employment in the formal sector, home-based work remains an important source of livelihood for many people, especially married women. Unfortunately, low wages, lack of social protection, and poor working conditions characterize this type of work. Future government policy must target wage increase and improved working conditions. A different minimum wage policy that addresses the problem of informality is being recommended to prevent the exploitation of HBWs.

Community-based action programs to increase awareness on the importance of a healthy working environment should be jointly undertaken by government and non-governmental bodies such as NGOs. Special attention must be given to those working in extremely poor working conditions.
To increase HBWs’ visibility, statistics from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) should treat them as a separate entity instead of just being an undefined part of the informal sector.

In order to improve the HBWs’ bargaining power, the necessary support should be given to the formation of an organization whose aim is to improve their welfare in the areas which have been studied.

Aside from macro policies aimed at protecting HBWs, the Ministry of Manpower should also increase the number of company inspectors in order to prevent further decline in the workers’ socio-economic conditions attributed to unfair worker-employer relations. However, it should also be noted that despite increased company inspectors, abuse of power is still likely. This needs to be prevented in order to attain the desired objective of improving the workers’ welfare.

There is an immediate need for credit provision and the promotion of workers’ awareness of their rights, especially for those who desire to improve their social and economic status. For the self-employed, there is also a need to improve and further hone their marketing skills, which may be helpful in obtaining assistance for that much needed capital.

FOLLOW- UP ACTION

Eventually, the CBS agreed to conduct a survey on homebased workers as an annex to the National Socio Economic Survey 2003 (SUSENAS 2003) with the financial support from the Asian Development Bank. Meanwhile NGOs, namely YPSI and YPP, have planned community based action and advocacy to address HBWs’ issues.