Government promotion of labour-intensive industrialization in Indonesia, 1930–1975

The 1970s are often credited as the first phase of sustained industrialization in Indonesia. Statistical data and qualitative evidence suggest that the country had not industrialized significantly until then, and that labour-intensive industrialization began only in the 1980s (e.g. Hill 1990a: 86–8; 1996: 23–6, 152–7). A common explanation is that macro-economic instability during the 1950s and the early 1960s prevented industrial growth, while during the colonial era the economy focused on producing primary commodities.