Bali Assigns Wage Review Team to Assess Living Costs for 2027

In brief: Bali Governor Wayan Koster said on 30 October that a special team had been assigned to review the province's 2027 minimum wage using both wage-setting measures and a decent-living-needs benchmark. No new provincial wage floor has been announced.

A specific assignment follows the October wage talks

At a provincial assembly session in Denpasar on 30 October, Koster described a review that will combine the established wage-calculation parameters with *Kebutuhan Hidup Layak* (KHL), the Indonesian measure of what people need for a decent standard of living. The provincial government subsequently confirmed the assignment in an account of the session published on 6 November.

Worker and student representatives had presented demands for a higher wage floor on 21 October, when the governor promised to examine them. The later statement assigned that examination to a designated team and set out its analytical task. It is a further preparation step towards the 2027 figure.

According to ANTARA, the government has discussed wage data with Statistics Indonesia (BPS). Koster argued that calculations relying on an older, 2015 data base had failed to keep pace with current living costs. He described a move towards a 2026 reference base for the new assessment. The newer reference base is a proposed direction for the study. National wage regulations remain the framework within which the provincial assessment must be considered.

For employers, the remaining question is how the study will feed into the formal wage-setting process. Government Regulation No. 49 of 2025 provides the national framework, while Bali's administration must also consider the capacity of businesses to absorb higher payroll costs. Officials have discussed a target of mid-November for determining the figure, but an indicative timetable is not itself a binding wage decision.

The IDR 3.4 million estimate and IDR 5.2 million demand remain unadopted

Bali's 2026 provincial minimum wage is approximately IDR 3.2 million a month. Koster's preliminary calculation, using the wage formula with an alpha coefficient of 0.9, indicated a figure near IDR 3.4 million for 2027. Worker representatives have proposed around IDR 5.2 million as a living-needs-based target. The latter two figures remain a simulation and a demand, respectively; neither has been adopted as the 2027 provincial minimum.

The figures also do not describe every pay arrangement on the island. Bali's administration is examining provincial, district or municipal, and sector-specific minimum wages. The applicable rate for a particular job will depend on the eventual decisions and the employment relationship, so a province-wide headline should not be inserted into every contract or business forecast.

Someone planning to take local employment may find this discussion relevant to future salary negotiations, while a company preparing its 2027 staffing budget has a reason to test different payroll scenarios. It has no immediate effect on rents, property valuations, or income earned under an overseas arrangement. Those would require separate evidence and, where relevant, their own contractual or legal analysis.

A binding payroll calculation will require the governor’s published wage determination, including the amount, territorial or sectoral coverage and effective date. The special team’s findings may inform that determination; they do not yet give an employee a new wage entitlement or establish the rate for a particular employer.