Bali’s Employment Profile

Bali by the Numbers: Agriculture and Tourism Account for 56.65% of all Jobs in Bali as Tourism is Poised to Displace Farming as Island's Top Employment Generator.

The agricultural sector remains to be the largest employer in Bali. The fact , however, that farming as a profession is under threat due to the rapid diversion of arable lands away from agricultural pursuits to villa building and a resulting decline of 3.88% in farming jobs over the past year, duplicating a similar loss in farming jobs in 2010 as compared to 2009.

Statistics provided by the Bali Bureau of Statistics show 28.84% of all employment in Bali emanates from the farming sector

The next largest employment generator in Bali is "trade" which embraces accommodation provider and restaurants, the mainstays of Bali’s large tourist industry. The trade sector accounts for 27.81% of all jobs, only 1% behind agriculture. Suggesting that tourism will almost certainly overtake agriculture as the top job generator is the fact that while employment increased 31.13% in the trade category over last year, agricultural jobs declined 4.58% during the same period. If this trend continues, agriculture in Bali will lose its top role as an employer in 2011.

The construction sector is booming in Bali, growing 47.88% in the past year reflected by the many construction cranes that dot Kuta’s skyline. Construction now creates 8.19% of all employment in Bali.

Registered unemployment figures released by the government for February 2011 indicate a 2.86% "open" unemployment rate, compared to 3.57% 12 months before.

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 34 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island.
With a population recorded as 3,891,000 in 2010 the island is home to most of Indonesia's small Hindu minority. In the 2000 census about 92.29% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. Bali, despite being a tourist haven for decades, has seen a surge in tourist numbers in recent years.

Economy

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry; and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia’s wealthiest regions. About 80% of Bali's economy depends on tourism.The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry is slowly recovering once again.

Agriculture

Tegalalang rice terrace in Ubud

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island’s biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops.Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.
The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavors include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana”. According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

Source Wikipedia.org