- 20/03/2023
- Category: Report Breakdown
Author: Mario Hartanto
Editor: M Perdana Karim
Education and Career
Indonesia’s Gen-Z are part of Indonesia’s demographic bonus, a condition where the working-age population increases in one country. This condition also becomes challenges for Gen Z towards their education and career aspirations. For context, Indonesia Gen Z lives under the 12-year mandatory schooling regulations. But the chance of Gen Z finishing school years is affected by socioeconomic status and gender. According to the 2020 Youth Report, the average education of Indonesian youth was 10,78 years, equivalent to the first year of high school. But the gap widened between youth that lived in rural and urban areas, especially those with disabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it worse for Indonesia’s Gen-Z academic aspect. Research from World Bank 2021 about learning loss and economic impact stated that Indonesian students experience a reduction between US $408 to US $578 in future annual earnings. It affects Gen-Z for the employment status, where data from Statistics Indonesia shows 3,8 million out of 8.7 unemployed population came from Gen Z. However, COVID-19 opens possibilities for online-based learning for Gen-Z. Data from IDN Media reports show that 39% of Gen-Z are interested in online learning platforms, and 32% have at least once tried using the platform.
In the career aspect, Gen-Z is often stereotyped by older generations for their lacking determination. However, interestingly according to a survey, 67% of Gen-Z don’t mind working more hours at work, as long as they receive compensation. Data from Statistics Indonesia shows that Gen-Z works longer hours compared to the Millennials generation. Nevertheless, 69% of Gen-Z valued work-life balance as their way of work. This work-life aspiration affects the location that Gen-Z prefers at work. 36% of Gen-Z stated they prefer working from home more than working from the office, with a 33% percentage. From the stability aspect, 52% of Gen Z noted that working in multinational companies gives more security compared to domestic. This view is influenced by the pandemic, where laid off and job vulnerability happens during the crisis.
Media Consumption and Online Behavior
While Gen-Z is famous for huge amounts of social media usage, 82% of Gen-Z still watched conventional TV in the past month. After TV, digital publishing followed afterwards with 42% of Gen-Z usage. From a gender perspective, women (44%) accessed more digital media than men (40%), making digital media slightly gendered. Regarding topics that Gen-Z is interested in, they show a strong interest in entertainment and lifestyle compared to hard news.
Gen-Z relies on mobile devices for digital activities, such as smartphones (99%), laptops and other devices (18%). The top two online activities among Indonesian Gen-Z are chatting and social media. Most Gen-Z spend more than one hour on social media apps, which might be rising while the pandemic happens. As for social media, Instagram is the most used social media with 74% usage, followed by YouTube (59%), Facebook (56%), TikTok (40%), and Twitter (9%). The popularity of Instagram, Youtube, and Tiktok rises as Gen-Z preferences for video-based content and live streams. According to the survey, 75% of Gen-Z preferred video-based content, followed by live streams (13%).
Discussing the Gen-Z phenomenon can’t separate from Metaverse. The discourse about Metaverse became a buzzword on the internet after Facebook (Meta) announced a name change and focused on the Metaverse. Nevertheless, the Metaverse concept is still foreign among Indonesia’s Gen-Z. The data support this statement that only 26% of Indonesia’s Gen-Z agree that the Metaverse can replace real-world interaction, and 21% agree the Metaverse is exclusive. When we look at Social Economical Status (SEC), the Metaverse is more familiar to the upper socio-economic class, with 34% compared to others (middle by 24% and lower by 29%).
Entertainment, Hobby, and Leisure
How Gen-Z uses their leisure time depends on their upper socioeconomic class. The report stated that those from the upper socioeconomic class tend to have more hobbies and are more likely to travel domestically (20%) or internationally (2%). Two years after recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesian Gen-Z are making new hobbies that can be done at home, such as cooking, gardening, and even aquascaping. Sports are also an integral part of Gen-Z, where jogging (43%) tops other kinds of sports like soccer (32%), cycling (23%), badminton (15%), etc.
When it comes to travelling, more than half of Gen-Z are ready to travel again since health restrictions for the past years. Gen-Z has various concerns about travelling, such as transportation (76%), health (69%), paperwork (59%), yet surprisingly the budget only takes 2% of Gen-Z concerns. When it comes to entertainment, Gen-Z nowadays gain entertainment through the new medium, streaming platforms. The report stated 30% of Gen-Z willing to pay for music platform subscriptions, and 31% are interested in paying for movie streaming subscriptions. Korean Pop also dominates Indonesia’s entertainment industry, where data shows that one in four (24%) Indonesian Gen-Z are interested in Korean Pop.
Finance and Spending Behavior
Looking at the demographics of Gen-Z, the eldest one has lived through three economic crises: the 1998 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 global crisis, and the 2020 pandemic crisis. This crisis affects Gen-Z, particularly when graduating and looking for a job. The report shows that 65% of Gen-Z live below RP4.000.000,00 per month. Gen-Z also tends to live in their parent’s house, even after getting a job. This statement is supported by data that only 1 in 8 Gen Z spend their expenditure on boarding rooms. Data shows that food and snacks make up the biggest Gen-Z monthly spending, taking up 18,69% to 70,59%. 69% of Gen-Z have a bank account, yet only 18% have used internet banking services. The pandemic helped accelerate financial inclusion, encouraging people to use digital wallets and mobile banking. The concern among Gen-Z behavior is their lack of interest in investment. Data shows that 39% of Gen-Z are not interested in investing, more than the ones that are interested (34%). When it comes to online shopping, the use of e-commerce has been more prevalent among Indonesian Gen-Z. E-Conomy 2021 report by Google stated that in Indonesia, 29,8% of digital merchants believe that they would not survive if not helped by digital platforms.
Reference
Google (2022) “E-Conomy SEA 2022,” pp. 1–124.
Herre, B. et al. (no date) Our world in data, Our World in Data. Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/ (Accessed: January 27, 2023).
Himiespa.feb (2021) [quickie!] work-life (im)balance: Memahami hustle culture Melalui Perspektif ekonomi, HIMIESPA FEB UGM – Developing Future Economists. Available at: https://himiespa.feb.ugm.ac.id/work-life-imbalance-memahami-hustle-culture-melalui-perspektif-ekonomi/ (Accessed: January 27, 2023).
Nations, U. (2020) “Youth Social Entrepreneurship and 2030 Agenda,” United Nations 2020 World Youth Report, pp. 1–116.
Research Institute, I.D.N. (2022) “Indonesia Gen-Z Report 2022,” pp. 1–77.World Bank Group (2021) Learning losses from covid-19 could cost this generation of students close to $17 trillion in lifetime earnings, World Bank. World Bank Group. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/12/06/learning-losses-from-covid-19-could-cost-this-generation-of-students-close-to-17-trillion-in-lifetime-earnings (Accessed: January 27, 2023).
