The ministry’s director general for industrial relations and social security, Haiyani Rumondang, said the government expected the five provinces – Gorontalo, Maluku, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) – to continue making gradual increases in the UMP with the hope of closing the gap by 2019.

“As a huge UMP increase might affect their economy, the [provincial] administrations can choose when they will take the option as long as they can close the UMP and basic cost of living gap by 2019,” Haiyani said.

For 2017, North Maluku, for example, has increased its minimum wage by 17.48 percent to reach Rp 1.98 million (US$146.60) per month, far higher than 8.25 percent set by the central government.

The figure, however, is much lower than the KHL level in the province, which stood at Rp 2.3 million as of last year, according to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data.

NTB, Maluku and Gorontalo, meanwhile, have raised their minimum wage by 10 percent, 8.45 percent and 8.27 percent, respectively.

Despite having the option of establishing a higher minimum wage, NTT, Haiyani said, had chosen to raise it by only 7.02 percent, lower than national standard due to sluggish growth in the local economy. It means the province will have to announce higher UMP increases in following years. (hwa)

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