- Businesses run by merchants in the GoTo ecosystem created additional job opportunities for 1.7 million people in 2022.
- In cities where GoTo is present, the income gap decreased by an average of 4.43%.
- The longer that GoTo is present in a city, the bigger the impact to poverty alleviation and income inequality reduction.
Jakarta, 29 March 2023 - The University of Indonesia’s Institute for Economic and Social Research – Faculty of Economics and Business (LPEM FEB UI), released a study today on the socio-economic impact of PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk ("GoTo"), the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia. According to the study, GoTo contributed approximately IDR 349-428 trillion to Indonesia’s economy in 2022, equivalent to 1.8% - 2.2% of the country’s GDP, showing how GoTo is supporting national economic growth as Indonesia recovers from the pandemic.
Chaikal Nuryakin, Ph.D Head of LPEM FEB UI, said: "GoTo’s ecosystem plays a pivotal role in supporting Indonesian economic recovery from the pandemic and beyond. Despite the uncertainty we saw in the global economy last year, with geopolitical tensions and significant hikes in interest rates to combat inflation, GoTo continues to expand its contribution to national economic growth. Its presence has also created much-needed job opportunities while reducing poverty and income inequality, attesting to the resilience of the GoTo ecosystem even in challenging times.”
LPEM FEB UI's research shows that the impact of the GoTo ecosystem has a multiplier effect on society. Besides GoTo’s contribution to the economy, other important findings from the study include:
- GoTo’s ecosystem helps to increase employment opportunities in the community. Based on LPEM UI’s research, businesses run by merchants in the GoTo ecosystem have created additional job opportunities for 1.1 to 1.7 million people. This is equivalent to 0.8% - 1.2% of the total working population in 2022. These numbers are in addition to the millions of driver-partners and merchants in the GoTo ecosystem.
- GoTo’s presence contributes to a reduction in the poverty rate. In cities where the Gojek and Tokopedia platforms coexist, the poverty rate decreased by 0.317 percentage points on average. If extrapolated to a national level, this is equivalent to a 1% reduction in the number of poor during the 2015-2022 period.
- The job opportunities created by GoTo are reducing the income gap in Indonesia. According to BPS (Statistics Indonesia) data for September 2022, Indonesia's Gini coefficient is 0.381, where the number 0 indicates no income gap while the number 1 indicates an absolute income gap. GoTo’s presence is associated with a decrease in the Gini coefficient of 0.012 points or an average of 4.43%.
The study also found a significant correlation between the duration of GoTo’s presence in a city and the positive impact it produces. According to study findings, the longer that GoTo has been present in a city, the higher the observed positive economic impact, with a reduction in the poverty rate and a lower income gap as compared to cities where GoTo is not present.
Andre Soelistyo, CEO of GoTo, said: "LPEM FEB UI’s study affirms the impact that GoTo is making on Indonesia’s economy and the welfare of local communities, while showing how our platform remains the key choice for Indonesians. Millions of people rely on our platform daily, and this is why it is important for us to continue focusing on long-term business sustainability while strengthening product innovation. This will ensure that we can meet even more needs and create long-term value for our consumers, merchants, driver-partners and society as a whole.”
Agus D.W. Martowardojo, Commissioner of GoTo, said: "From the start, GoTo’s business has been built to create a positive impact in Indonesia and improve lives across all circumstances. GoTo’s growing contribution to the Indonesian economy in 2022 is proof of this commitment, and is also in line with the company's improving business performance, as seen in its transaction and revenue growth. With GoTo accelerating its path to profitability, the company is in a strong position to continue increasing the positive impact it is creating in Indonesia."
Airlangga Hartanto, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, said: “Last year was a challenging year as everyone in Indonesia worked hard to recover from the pandemic amidst global economic uncertainty. Indonesia has remained resilient, and this is because of companies like GoTo that have helped the country significantly during the recovery period. I appreciate GoTo’s contribution to the national economy, especially in how it is creating job opportunities through its merchants, alleviating poverty and reducing the income gap. Looking ahead, I am confident that GoTo’s impact will continue to increase, in line with the huge growth potential of Indonesia’s digital economy.”
For the study, LPEM FEB UI researchers looked at GoTo transactions, including transactions on Tokopedia and other Gojek merchants, such as GoFood and GoMart, as the main source of data to calculate economic impact using the Input-Output method. Meanwhile, GoTo’s impact on the reduction of poverty and income gap in cities was calculated with a “difference in differences method with staggered design”.
The data used to calculate the impact of the Gojek-Tokopedia combination was obtained from changes in the income of driver-partners and merchants, based on a survey which was conducted at the end of December 2022 and January 2023. There were 3,814 driver-partners, 3,615 Gojek merchants, and 1,496 Tokopedia sellers who participated in the survey.
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- The report can be found here.
About LPEM FEB UI
LPEM FEB UI is a research institute under the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia (FEB UI), and is one of the largest research and academic communities at the University of Indonesia. For more information, please contact LPEM FEB UI via email: marcom@lpem-feui.org cc: lpem@lpem-feui.org and marcom.lpemfebui@gmail.com. Find out more: LPEM FEB UI
About GoTo Group
PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo Group) is the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia. GoTo’s mission is to “empower progress” by offering technology infrastructure and solutions that help everyone to access and thrive in the digital economy. The GoTo ecosystem consists of On-demand Services (mobility, food delivery, and logistics), E-commerce (third party marketplaces + official stores, instant commerce, interactive commerce, and rural commerce), and Financial Technology (payments, financial services, and technology solutions for merchants) through the Gojek, Tokopedia, and GoTo Financial platforms.
- For more information, please contact:
- Chaikal Nuryakin - chaikal.nuryakin@ui.ac.id
- GoTo Group - corporate.affairs@gotocompany.com
