Informal Traffic Controller: Study on Shadow Economy in Indonesia

The urban low-income segment of society survived on their earnings in the informal sector. This study examines the informal traffic controllers in the shadow economy framework who assist incoming cars at traffic-congested intersections and turning lanes in the main cities to earn income. This paper originates from the preliminary study of “Pak Ogah”: the Portrait of Shadow Economy in the Greater Area of Jakarta. The field study was conducted at 60 congested intersections and turning lanes on roadways where the informal traffic controller groups operated. The study employs a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative procedures and conducts a triangulation strategy. The study's implications suggest that the shadow economy was created by institutional failure to anticipate the negative impact of urban development policy.


INTRODUCTION
Main cities in Indonesia emerged as political and economic centers and witnessed progressive development.Enormous population growth and social change in main cities affected the urban spatial planning to support the needs of residents' housing and rapid mobility.Residential construction and road development are carried out to support activities and mobility.Simultaneously, the peripheral areas previously Jakarta's buffer zone transformed into the outskirts' new cities.The peripheral areas, previously rural areas, have been affected by the rapid changes in Jakarta.Megaproject construction and superblocks of integrated areas comprise real estate, commercial, and recreational facilities carried out by giant developers in the Greater Area of Jakarta during 1992-2007 (Herlambang et al., 2018).
The significant infrastructure and housing construction expansion in Jakarta to its peripheral areas by public and private sectors have converted rural land into new cities -while private developers alone converted almost 300,000 ha of rural land.The new cities are located between the rural hinterland and urban fringe, defined as peri-urban areas with mixed rural-urban characteristics (Winarso et al., 2015).The Greater Area of Jakarta, namely Jabodetabek, an acronym for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi, is an urban agglomeration that extends from Jakarta's metropolitan center to neighboring cities or regents, which is discussed as peri-urban areas.The Greater Area of Jakarta features diversified labor employment that ranges from rural to urban employment, as well as a mixed population of poor migrants looking for informal jobs with multiple incomegenerating activities to a privileged class with steady careers.The features of population and spatial diversification create social segregation that develops concentrations of specific classes and demographic groups based on their apparent spatial occupancy and facilities.The Greater Area of Jakarta, or Jabodetabek, became the most populated city with a total population of 31,240,709 based on the 2020 census.Enormous population and land use have made Jabodetabek a dense area for people's activities and movements, causing traffic congestion.
Traffic congestion in Indonesia increased more than doubled between 1985 and 2000, corresponding to the growth of private vehicle users (Yudhistira et al., 2017).Traffic congestion has caused substantial economic losses that would reach Rp65 trillion in 2020, according to JICA and Bappenas (2004) projection.Although Jakarta has built an extensive public transit system, traffic congestion has yet to be eliminated.Economic losses from increased vehicle running expenses, longer travel times, environmental harm from carbon dioxide concentration, and the psychological stress caused by traffic congestion are all costly beyond measure.Amidst severe congestion in the Greater Area of Jakarta, groups of dominantly youth members benefit from 'helping' drivers who are caught in traffic jams, attempting to cross the lane among congested roads.They operate during the traffic police's absence, expecting a very small amount of money tip about Rp500 to Rp2,000 from the drivers in return.The informal traffic controllers are easy to find in congested crossroads or turning lanes, indicating many activities throughout the Greater Area of Jakarta.Public nicknamed as "Pak Ogah" or "Mr.No" taken from the popular 1980s to 1990s TV series describing a lazy male character, only willing to help or do something if he is given Rp100 in exchange.Informal traffic controllers implicitly expect a tip to compensate their service to the drivers.The tip increases from Rp500 to Rp2,000, the adjusted amount of Rp100.They do not hesitate to risk themselves to stop and block other drivers' lanes where potential "clients" -drivers with difficulty crossing the congested road-are about to cross over the road.
The phenomenon of the informal traffic controller reflects the low socioeconomic segment defined by Hart (1973) in the 1970s as the unskilled and illiterate urban sub-proletariat generating informal income through extremely small-scale self-employed occupations afterward referred to as the informal sector.Although production and distribution of goods and services are the legal areas of work to offer in the informal sector, illicit works are also available.Informal traffic controllers pursue low-paying, risky work.The potential semi-extortionary nature of transactions between informal traffic controllers and drivers is the rationale for classifying this labor as "underground" employment that works inside the shadow economy framework and works 'below the radar' of the regular economic system (Berdiev et al., 2020).
Studies on shadow economy increase on macroeconomics approach to gauge the size of shadow economy and tax evasion in developed and developing countries; shadow economy and corruption; and unregistered economic activities that escape tax to gross national product (GDP) in OECD countries (Dreher & Schneider, 2010;Medina & Schneider, 2018, 2019;Stiglitz & Pieth, 2016;Tahmasebi & Rocca, 2015;Williams & Schneider, 2016).The infamous side of the shadow economy for its definition and measuring challenges, which correlate to the vast and complicated concerns it must address either in developed and emerging markets or developing countries, appeared as well (Andreev et al., 2018;Berdiev et al., 2020;Medina & Schneider, 2018;William & Schneider, 2013).
According to Andrii and Terziev (2020), shadow economy research focuses on general issues such as shadow economy estimation and size to the analysis of urban poverty, low income, drugs, and abuse problems in illegal and semi-illegal jobs.It occurred in 2014-2015, coinciding with an increase in the number of papers on the shadow economy associated with poverty in developing countries, shadow economy and income inequality in Asian countries and Africa (Berdiev et al., 2020;Esaku, 2021;Huynh & Nguyen, 2020;Tran, 2021).In those studies, the production of goods and services in the informal sector, either legally or unlawfully, and in between, as well as underground and illicit terms, were also conducted.This paper, which originated from the preliminary study on "Pak Ogah": The Portrait of Shadow Economy in the Greater Area of Jakarta, examines the shadow economy and urban low-income people who create illicit, semi-illegal activities to earn a living at the traffic congestion roadways.This research examines the informal traffic controllers' mode of production, shared income, and group solidarity to protect the source of their marginal earnings by situating the shadow economy concept in the socioeconomic context of Indonesia's urban marginal group realities.Previous studies that have become the primary references are the study conducted by Tran (2021) on the critical role of underground work in the informal sector in providing livelihood to disadvantaged segments in developing countries.Meanwhile, Esaku (2021) emphasizes the failure to absorb the population, resulting in semi-unskilled unemployment in many developing countries, particularly Uganda, and the emergence of the shadow economy.Those studies concern low-income households that rely on the informal sector and underground work that might be their only source of income and have increased the shadow economy.
The gap between the informal traffic controllers study, and the referenced studies is due to the type of the empirical data and the research method.Tran (2021) and Esaku (2021) examine shadow economies and income inequality in developing countries using panel data over a certain period.Tran (2021) examines the 7-ASEAN countries, including Indonesia.The studies show that unemployment boosts the shadow economy.The result of their studies raises the question: How do the situation and social setting of unemployment and income inequality boost Indonesia's shadow economy?Therefore, our research focuses on the informal traffic controller and employs Husserl's phenomenology inquiry to transform the meaning of statistical results on inequality and the shadow economy in the urban sub-proletariat or low-income segment to make the data on the ground.We might claim novelty from the research based on the topic matter; even the technique and approach are frequent in development studies.

METHODS
The study employs a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative procedures and conducts a triangulation strategy to converge or confirm findings from different data sources.Each research approach creates its technique, yet each has distinct and complementary qualities (Newman, 2003).The method is based on data acquired in a natural setting, where human behavior and events occur.The data is reached in an observation without participation or a non-interactive, complete observation.We used behavioral surveillance techniques to keep the fieldwork safe because it occurs in potentially harmful situations.At this stage, a qualitative procedure is employed.
In observation, this study uses primary data gathered using a semi-structured data collection instrument.The data, consisting of income, mode of production, number of group members, condition and types of roadways, operating location, and number of vehicles that are caught in traffic congestion, is recorded directly in the sample areas.The data is treated as a distribution of the frequency of individual values, or frequency distribution, and the mean, or average, describing the central tendency of income in observation locations, is used to estimate income in sample areas for the entire year.A quantitative approach is employed at this stage to gain the expected data.Expected data can be shown in Table 1.
The study area is selected using purposive sampling and consists of Central Jakarta, South Jakarta, East Jakarta, South Tangerang, Depok, and Bekasi.Jakarta represents the core area: Central Jakarta is the business center; South Jakarta and East Jakarta are upper and middle-low residential areas.South Tangerang Selatan, Depok, and Bekasi represent the current peri-urban cities. Due to source restrictions, the study is conducted without Bogor Cities, one of the agglomeration regions of the Jakarta Greater Area of Jabodetabek.Nonetheless, the absence of Bogor would not affect the geographical analysis.Field data was collected at 60 traffic-congested locations spread across 39 urban villages (kelurahan) in six sample areas.Observation is conducted at peak traffic periods of 7-9 a.m. or 4-7 p.m. on weekdays, Monday to Friday, with a 10-minute time frame of surveillance.In-depth interviews with key informants drawn from the ranks of informal traffic controllers were also conducted.The quantitative and qualitative data are collected concurrently, and the data and findings are integrated with data analysis with field notes and theoretical categories.Some partial overlap in conducting mixed-method occurred.Nonetheless, there was no misunderstanding in data interpretation; on the contrary, utilizing both made the field findings more comprehensive.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The study's key findings show that the sample areas in which the six cities are located are the dilemma and problematic cities.The Greater Area of Jakarta, or Jabodetabek, is the most overcrowded in all of the cities of Indonesia.As an urban agglomeration, Jabodetabek has transformed into a growth pole, as seen by a rise in the regional minimum wage, with Bekasi achieving the highest 2022 minimum wage rate.On the contrary, some poor individuals earn money through inconceivable activities, anticipating a tip of Rp500-Rp2,000 in the middle of a congested road.The lack of sound spatial regulation and growth pressure are producing drastic changes and social segregation in adjacent outskirt regions.The social division of labor extends from the most sophisticated, highest-paying jobs to the unlawful activities of the informal sector, which are challenging to designate as a job: the informal traffic controller.
Jakarta has had a tremendous population growth rate since the 1980s.In the 1960s, the annual population growth rate was 2.6%, rising to 4% in the 1970s.Urban employment rates per annum have risen to 5.7%, compared to 1.6% in rural regions (Sethuraman, 1974).In the 1980s, only 22% of the population resided in urban areas.Despite a slowdown between 2000-05, it increased to 43% in 2005.The growing population in urban regions has more than doubled in thirty years, indicating a demographic shift from rural to urban areas.According to Indonesian population growth, the country is moving to an urban-based population (Meng & Manning, 2010).
Previously, Jakarta had become a significant migration destination area.However, in the last decade, migration destination has shifted to peri-urban regions such as Tangerang District, Bekasi District, Bogor District, Depok City, and Bekasi City, the peri-urban of Jakarta, according to Susenas 2013, 2017 and 2021.The total urban population in 2020 has reached 56.7%, with the total population in Jabodetabek based on the recent census (2020) reaching 31,240,709 (see Table 2) and may still grow.Population growth rates in Jakarta were relatively lower at 1.19% in 2019, while Depok City, Bekasi District, and Tangerang Selatan City show higher growth rates at 3.57%, 3.95%, and 3.04%, respectively.While the middle-upper classes of residents have better employment opportunities, people with low incomes are pursuing income in the informal sector.Traffic congestion and socioeconomic configuration in Jabodetabek have turned traffic congestion into an informal opportunity for low-skilled labor.In this situation, where the drivers are trapped in congested roads, low-income segments have seen an opportunity to get a small amount of money by helping drivers get out of the traffic jams.Usually, when traffic congestion occurs, the police act to get the roadways back in order.Nonetheless, the traffic police are on hand at particular times to unravel the traffic congestion.When the police were absent, Pak Ogah, alone or in a group, took the initiative to regulate traffic or, more precisely, to give vehicles caught in traffic jams the chance to pass.Several drivers, particularly those driving four-wheeled vehicles, would tip the informal traffic controller for their efforts to get them out of a congested road.At many observed congestion locations, peak traffic periods even started before 7 a.m. and reached the highest spike on hump days of Monday to Wednesday.While observation is conducted on weekdays from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. from Monday to Friday.Nonetheless, weekdays in the morning and evening after office hours can be said to be the nightmare of traffic congestion that is found at the 60 observed locations in 39 urban villages as follows (see Table 3).Pak Ogah appears to prefer arterial roads (48.3%) over collector roads (25%), local roads (21.7%), and residential roads (0.5%) (see Table 4).They also identified to prefer good-condition roads (83.3%), strive to avoid even moderate-condition roads (16.3%), and never operate on bad-condition roads.Typical roadways give a better chance of receiving tips from car drivers.Although bad-conditioned local or residential roads sometimes require initiative to help vehicles caught in local traffic congestion, there needs to be a different type of road to attract the intention to help.It is a logical consideration behind the operational options.No matter how small the amount of money they received, tips became the primary purpose of their activities.groups of 2 to 10 members of informal traffic controllers operated in observation areas are identified.The data show that the average number of informal traffic controller group members is 2-3.Nonetheless, the number of people involved is also flexible, unless the most congested loop of turning road located on Depok Square near Margonda, Depok City, has attracted at least 20 people involved.The Pak Ogah is easily found at the loops of T-junction or crossroad (53.3%), a rotating or U-turn loop (28.3%), and a turning road (18.3%) (see Table 5).Fourwheeled vehicles or cars, especially those identified as personal cars, are the main potential targeted customers.The more complicated the driver's situation and effort to get them out of a congested road, the easier it is for drivers to tip.A site of observation was possible to earn Rp. 21.000-30.000(36.7%) and Rp.10.000-20.000(35%) (see Table 6) as the two greatest earning classes based on the income acquired throughout a 10-minute observation.Each location's average income acquired within a 10-minute observation is estimated at Rp.22,233.The estimated income is projected to be Rp.133,398 within an hour and Rp.533,395 within a 4-hour assumption congestion time of 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. on a weekday.If the weekdays are assumed to be five days a week, there are approximately 20 weekdays within a month.Accordingly, a congested location can earn an average potential income in a month estimated at Rp. 10,667,395,and at Rp.128,008,740 for the entire year for each location.The maximum income in 60 observation locations earned by The Pak Ogah of social traffic controllers would be Rp.7,680,524,400.The most congested area, according to the total number of cars caught in traffic jams, is South Tangerang City a peripheral urban area, with 523 cars, and Central Jakarta City of, the core-area with 470 cars unable to drive properly due to severe traffic congestion during a 10-minute observation (see Table 7).According to the data acquired, approximately 2253 cars were trapped in traffic jams, almost 50%, or 1029 drivers, spent money to cross lanes on congested roads, for a total invisible cost of Rp.1,328,000, and about 131 Pak Ogah were deployed at 60 traffic jam locations among Jakarta and its peri-urban areas within a 10-minute observation.It is essential to compare the income-received-based and driver-spending calculations to ensure the accuracy of money circulation estimation.Where Rp.1,328,000 is a 10-minute calculation, a one-hour projection estimation would be Rp.7,968,000, and a 4-hour congestion time in a day of 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. assumption during the weekday would be Rp.31.872,000.Hence, under the same assumption as the previous calculation, 20 days in a month are estimated at Rp.637,440,000.The final estimation of an entire year of weekdays is Rp.7,649,280,000.There is a gap in the calculation at Rp.31,244,400 of the estimated circulation of money using income-received-based or driver-spending-based calculations.Although the amount of the tip that informal traffic controllers collect is very small, the estimated cumulation amount is relatively high.
Despite the increase in income indicated by the 2022 provincial and city/regent minimum wages of DKI Jakarta Rp4,641,854,Bekasi City Rp.4,681,921,Depok City Rp.4,377,231,and South Tangerang City Rp.4,280,214, the informal employment with much lower income rather than minimum wage rate remains easy to find out.The informal sector employs a sizable proportion of urban workers.In general, 60% to 70% of the labor force is employed in the informal sector (Rothenberg et al., 2016).According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the informal sector employs around 60% of the global workforce, with 85% working in the informal sector (Chacaltana et al., 2022).The reasons for the shadow economy to thrive differ in developed and emerging market countries.
The informal traffic controller has attracted mostly male youth grouping as it was seen to be helping drivers on congested roads.They work in a managed group where each member receives a fair shift.Some groups are complete with a light stick and an imitating traffic police vest to give an 'official' impression.Regardless of the nature of their activity, the informal traffic controller expects to be doing what is believed to be normal work.In reality, the informal traffic controller differs from other informal sector employees, such as street vendors, peddlers, domestic workers, and home garbage collectors, who supply actual goods and services.Despite the psychological burden and concealed denial of how they earn a living, the informal traffic controller works hard to ensure the sustainability of their actions amid traffic congestion.Operate only when traffic police are not present, keeping the shift running for the group members and avoiding friction that potentially made them banned by official authorities.This situation depicts how poor individuals depend to the mode of production that cannot be said to be a proper job.
The informal traffic controller has been an exciting topic of discussion because it can absorb urban unemployment of over 1000 young people in ten minutes at 60 congested locations and distribute an estimated annual revenue of around Rp7,6 trillion gathered from a trivial amount of tips.Ironically, there is a resemblance to the situation of "shared poverty."Shared poverty is the peasant's survival strategy in post-colonial rural Java.Labor surplus while marginal production falls to zero, the population continues to grow, and agricultural land narrows, resulting in unemployment, underemployment, or total unemployment.Income per capita in this sector fell to the "as long as you can live" or subsistence level.People in poverty shared scarce resources and employment, such as reducing the time spent cultivating on the same land to allow other family members to work.This "shared poverty" occurred in a different social setting and timeframe during the informal traffic controller experience.The urban poor in modern Indonesia, as seen in informal traffic controller groups, shared the opportunity with other group members to assist the drivers so that they may receive the tip as well.
The situation is also similar to the socioeconomic position when Keith Hart, a British anthropologist, coined the informal sector for the first time in 1973 through the activities of a low-income section of the urban sub-proletariat in Ghana, who migrated to the cities in search of better job opportunities.The opposite of the current situation is that the informal traffic controllers originally consisted of local people who resided in the city.According to the interviews, most of the informal traffic controllers are not outsiders.They were marginalized due to the enormous changes in the main cities that infiltrated the peripheral area, which was previously rural.
Informal traffic controllers also exhibit "disguised unemployment," which occurs when employment appears to be working but does not increase total output; hence, such employment is considered no better than no employment at all.Disguised unemployment was widespread in over-populated agricultural areas.Although disguised unemployment has historically occurred in agricultural areas, Jakarta and its peri-urban areas, in particular, are transitioning into over-populated urban areas with persistent rural characteristics.As a result, labor surplus that is not absorbed even by the regular informal sector-in this case, informal traffic controllers-shows that the major cities and new cities fail to offer jobs.
In line with the topic, this study depicts the findings of prior studies performed by Tran (2021) and Esaku (2021), who contend that unemployment and income inequality fuel the shadow economy in developing countries.According to the informal traffic controller study findings, urban unemployment has encouraged individuals to generate income in the underground economy, strengthening the shadow economy.The informal traffic controller is an unrecommended activity because the risks are not worth the reward and do not promise a future.It is essentially unlawful and vulnerable, implying that drivers do not require their assistance.However, they continue to engage in these activities.
Furthermore, the study's implications suggest that the shadow economy was created by institutional failure to anticipate the negative impact of urban development policy.Unemployment and income inequality, which became significant factors in increasing the shadow economy, are also impacted by poor regulation and the weakness of the authority holders who execute the development.The case of informal traffic controllers amid traffic congestion, regardless of local issues, is socially and economically concerning.Although Indonesia is currently classified as a middle-income country, the hidden poverty-depicted by the informal traffic controller activities-that might emerge as a middle-income trap should not be ignored.

CONCLUSION
The informal or social traffic controller is an informal activity inside urban traffic congestion of groups of predominantly young males in their early productive age assisting four-wheeled drivers to pass the congested road by expecting the tip from the driver to reward their efforts.It is categorized as the mode of production of the informal sector that works inside the shadow economy based on the manner of income generation.The informal traffic controller in traffic congestion activities throughout the Greater Area of Jakarta is a microcosm of the vast and complicated shadow economy framework.However, through the Indonesian context's micro-case, we can understand the shadow economy comprehensively.
The case of informal traffic controllers in the shadow economy framework also reveals the problem behind invisible costs that emerged in congested areas.Traffic congestion might be the surface of the real problem of poor planning in the progressive growth of urban and peri-urban regions, resulting from access disparity to the lowincome section.The urban poor strive to live by working in informal, illegal, harmful underground jobs.This socioeconomic scenario reflects the fact that disparities in the center-periphery area have existed for a long time.On the contrary, due to growth in the central region infiltrating the periphery area, social segregation based on housing and income is happening in the peri-urban area, formerly the outskirts and hinterland area.The issue of the shadow economy in the case of the informal traffic controller correlates with society's moral economy.By rewarding unlawful activity on the road, road users and informal traffic controllers become submissive to coping with traffic congestion.In the case of informal traffic controllers, the shadow economies issue is tied to society's moral economy.

Table 3 . Traffic Congestion Observation Areas
Source: field data collection 2022

Table 4 . Type of Road Type of road Frequency Percent
The informal traffic controllers either work in groups or individually, depending on the situation, without a steady work pattern.In 10-minute observation, individuals and http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/signifikanhttps://doi.org/10.15408/sjie.v12i2.33434

Table 5 . Number of Group Members Group members (person) Frequency Percent
Source: Field data collection 2022

Table 7 . Total Money And Vehicles Circulation At Observed Traffic Congestion Location
Source: field data, treated, 2023