Work dynamics of the state’s data collection project - Flexibility, invisibility, and statistical enumerators’ consciousness on their working conditions

This study is concerned with how states use flexible labour systems in governance, particularly in one of the reality simplification projects that states use to regulate what is on their territory. The collection of statistics survey and census data in Indonesia is one of the manifestations in this context, used in the planning and evaluation of state development policies. With a history of state policies that has always favoured labour flexibility in Indonesia, compounded by a weak labour power, statistical enumerators feel the precarious nature of their working conditions. In addition, although enumerators have complex work and great job responsibilities, this does not mean that they are inseparable from the hegemony of immaterial work that appropriates the value of their labour. However, despite the disadvantages, it is still difficult for enumerators to build solidarity to struggle for their interests and rights as workers, given the surrounding values and cultures that make it difficult to raise class consciousness.