The Yudhoyono legacy on jobs, poverty and income distribution: a mixed record

Outcomes in the general area of job creation, poverty and income distribution were ambiguous during the Yudhoyono years. Jobs growth flip-flopped between rapid expansion of informal jobs in President Yudhoyono's first term, and then of formal employment during the resources boom in his second term. On the positive side, rates of poverty declined almost continuously throughout his period in office, and policy in this area was one of the big achievements of his presidency. But these improvements for the poor were not reflected in a better distribution of income. In fact, inequality worsened strikingly during Yudhoyono's second term of government.