In the census of 1930 every person counted was also asked after his occupation. People were supposed to have a job when they did something by means of which they earned their living, or contributed to it. When there was more than one source of income, the activity that accounted for the greater part of it was accepted as an occupation, or the activity that was pursued throughout the year or the greater part of the year.
Occupations were classified according to the method of trade-classification along the lines adopted in India, Malaya, and Ceylon, when a census was taken there. In the D.I. Jogjakarta 42.5 persons out of every hundred were found to have an occupation, which was a higher percentage than in the other provinces of Java, where it varied from 29.2% (West-Java) to 38.2% (Central-Java).
In the kabupatens the percentages of the people, who had an occupation appeared as showed in table II-16.
Table II - 16
Percentage of Indonesian adults, who had an occupation in the D.I. Jogjakarta in 1930.
The high figure for Bantul was among other things caused by an error made in the count. A number of married women, who besides doing their household work, also assisted their husbands in agricultural activities, were wrongly taken for peasants. When separately classifying working people in the area of the D.I. Jog, and in the city of Jogjakarta, according to occupation, we get the following picture:
Table II – 17
Distribution of the adults with an occupation over the different types of occupation, according to residence and sex (in percentages of the total number in the group concerned).
As compared to the other provinces of Java, the number of peasants is low in the D.I. Jogjakarta. In other provinces it surpasses 50 per cent. Of all those who have an occupation. In the D.I. Jog 41.8 per cent. Of the total working population consisted of peasants. When comparing the figures for the isolated kabupatens to those for the D.I. Jogjakarta great differences appear. In the kabupatens Sleman and Bantul the percentage of peasants was 34.0% and 31.1% respectively. In Kulon Progo and Gunung Kidul this was the case in 53.4% and 82.6% of all the adults with an occupation.
The lower figures in the dabupatens Sleman and Bantul are accounted for by the great number of plantations, especially sugar plantations that used to exist here. Some 60,000 Indonesians were employed in them, most of whom had been withdrawn from agriculture. Since these plantations disappeared in the days of war and revolution (1942-49), and since the soil is again used for ordinary agricultural purposes, the present-day division of labour will certainly be different from what it was in 1930.
Fifty-five per cent. Of the country-people in Central-Java, as far as they had any occupation at all, were peasants. Both the province of Central-Java and the D.I. Jogjakarta appear to be agricultural areas. In the D.I. Jogjakarta a high percentage (35.9) of all women has some sort of occupation, and of these 56.5 per cent. Is married.
This figure is greater than that for the other provinces of Java. In Central-Java 28 per cent. Of all women had an occupation and of these 40.1 per cent. Was married. When comparing the division of labour between men and women, we find that more women than men work in small scale industry and trade. (Cf. Table II-17)
Very often the industry is home-industry: batik-work in Kulon Progo and Bantul, bamboo-and wood-working in the kabupatens Sleman, Bantul and Kulon-Progo. Commerce by feminine traders is important in Kota Gede’.
In 1930 and 1955 fishing was not important in the D.I. Jogjakarta. There was some, but not much, cattle-breeding in Kulon Progo and Gunung Kidul, where 2.7 and 2.5 per cent. Of the working people respectively were cattle-drovers in 1930.
More recent figures concerning occupation, which are comparable with those of 1930 are not available since no new census has taken place.