Fresh Graduated From UGM Jogjakarta

dari My IFTA..

dari milis sebelah...

*Zakki P. Hakim*, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Dewi was among the top graduates from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia's
most prestigious located in Yogyakarta.

With her fluent English, almost perfect straight-A grades from the Faculty
of Economics, and an outstanding extra-curricular record, it took her
virtually no time to get a "managerial level" job in one of the big five
consulting and accounting firms in Jakarta.

However, she quickly realized that she had made a mistake in accepting the
basic monthly salary of Rp 1.5 million (US$154), a figure she later said was
simply insufficient to cover her living costs in Jakarta.

Because she had lived in Yogyakarta all her life, she initially thought that
the offered salary was adequate. Fortunately, she plucked up the courage to
go back to her employer and tell him the problem.

"I presented my projected costs of living in Jakarta, which included meals,
house rent and transportation. And I told him, how can I focus on doing my
job here, if all I can think about are ways of getting additional income to
cover my living costs," she told *The Jakarta Post*.

Her boss accepted the argument and raised her monthly basic salary to
Rp 2.5million, plus other benefits such as healthcare allowances and
insurance.
This story took place in 2000.

Dewi's story is a typical of what top fresh graduates from cities outside of
Jakarta experience when they come here to work.

A recent survey by New York-based consulting firm Mercer Human Resource
Consulting provides an explanation about why Yogyakarta graduates coming to
work in Jakarta or other big cities experience such confusion.

According to the survey, living costs in Yogyakarta are the lowest among the
22 cities in 19 provinces surveyed last April, while Jakarta is the fourth
most expensive city after Jayapura, Batam and Balikpapan.

Mercer Indonesia's performance, measurement and rewards business leader Luky
Suardi said that Jakarta was used as the comparative benchmark with an index
of 100. On this scale, Jayapura's score is 104 while Yogyakarta's is 82,
meaning that living costs in Yogyakarta are about 82 percent of Jakarta's.

Luky explained that living costs were measured by surveying 150 goods and
services, including such things as rice, cigarettes, consumer electronics,
clothing, domestic helpers, utilities, commuting costs, sports and leisure.

According to the survey, factors that determine the cost discrepancy between
cities were all related to transportation and distribution problems. The
more access a city has to goods -- especially food -- and services, the
lower its cost of living would became.

Bandung, for example, took 17th position because it was surrounded by food
producing areas and thus enjoys less expensive food prices compared to other
cities. In addition, the city was not too big meaning commuting to work was
also less expensive.

Conversely, Jayapura had the highest living costs because of its geographic
remoteness from sources of goods and services.

In addition to the Indonesian survey, Mercer also compared living costs in
cities globally, where Jakarta took the 71st place, way above Kuala Lumpur,
Bangkok and Manila that were ranked 117th, 125th and 143rd respectively.

Jakarta's position this year represents a drop from the previous year's
position of 45. Luky explained that Jakarta's cost of living dropped due to
the weakening rupiah.

The global survey by Mercer covers 144 cities and is based on consumption
behavior of expatriates. Topping the list were Tokyo, followed by Osaka,
London, Moscow and Seoul, while New York was ranked 13th.

Luky explained that the survey aimed at assisting companies in setting fair
compensation packages for their expatriated employees.

However, the survey on living costs in Indonesian cities should also be
useful for Indonesian job seekers in bargaining for fair remuneration.

But not for Dewi. She has now married, had a child, given up her career and
lives with her family in the United States. Her husband and Dewi could now
use the global survey instead.

*City ranking based on cost of living, 2005*

1. Jayapura 12. Semarang

2. Batam 13. Padang

3. Balikpapan 14. Makassar

4. Jakarta 15. Palembang

5. Medan 16. Pekanbaru

6. Banjarmasin 17. Bandung

7. Bogor 18. Denpasar

8. Manado 19. Mataram

9. Surabaya 20. Cilegon

10.Tangerang 21. Bandarlampung
11.Bekasi 22. Yogyakarta

*Source: Mercer HR Consulting*