Rindfuss' study of the demographically dense' period amongAmerican youth is applied in the Indonesian situation. The researchanalyses data sets of :lie 1971, 1980 and 1990 Indonesian PopulationCensus and the 1997 National Social and Economic Survey. focusing onwomen aged 15-24 years. Two hypotheses are examined for rite changesbetween 1980 cmd 1997: (1) more women remained single and were likelyto continue education or join the labor force. and (2) pursuing educationwas more dominant than pursuing employment. Two-thirds of women aged15-24 remained unmarried in 1997. From 1971 to 1997. marriage andattending school were becoming alternately exclusive, especially below age20. Between 1980 and 1997, :lie percentage of those 'working' as mainactivity dropped slightly, but attending school almost doubled. Anothermeasure, the percentage of women who worked at least one hour in :lieprevious week increased as women became older, but in overall it declinedwithin the 17-year period. Less-educated single women were more likely towork. Mothers with young children tended to stay out of the work force.especially or ages 15-19. Single women had higher unemployment rates:nan ever-married women. Policy implications include improvements inschooling and working conditions along will: delaying first marriage. |