Exploring Informal Workers’ Employment Experiences in Urban Indonesia: A Phenomenological Study of Survival, Adaptation, and Urban Transformation in Surabaya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61194/economics.v3i4.1124Keywords:
Informal Employment, Informal Workers, Urbanization, Precarious Employment, Phenomenology, Surabaya, IndonesiaAbstract
Informal employment remains a dominant livelihood source in developing countries, particularly in rapidly urbanizing cities where formal employment cannot absorb the growing labor force. Although informal workers contribute substantially to urban economies, they often face employment insecurity, unstable income, and limited social protection. This study explores the lived employment experiences of informal workers in Surabaya, Indonesia, focusing on their pathways into informal work, working conditions, responses to urbanization and digitalization, adaptation strategies, and perceptions of government support. Using a qualitative interpretive phenomenological approach, data were collected from ten informal workers across diverse occupations—street vending, transportation, construction, domestic work, waste collection, tailoring, and culinary microenterprise—selected through purposive maximum-variation sampling, and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological thematic analysis with reflexive interpretation to ensure credibility. Findings show entry into informal work is shaped by limited formal job access, economic necessity, job loss, and social networks. Workers experienced precarity marked by unstable income, irregular demand, rising costs, and weak legal protection. Urbanization expanded markets but intensified competition, while digitalization brought opportunities alongside new dependencies. Workers showed resilience through income diversification and household coping strategies. Labor Market Segmentation Theory, the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, and resilience theory jointly explain these dynamics, informing policies for inclusive social protection and platform-worker regulation.
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