Indonesia’s garment and footwear sector employs 2,150,000 workers, about 80% of whom are women. Most garment factories are located in West Java, Central Java and the surrounding regions and are major exporters of international fashion brands.
In recent years, a global movement to digitize wages—driven by collaboration between brands, local garment manufacturers, and financial service providers—has reshaped how workers are paid. As a result, many factory owners in Indonesia are increasingly viewing digital financial solutions not just as an operational upgrade, but as a way to support the financial health and resilience of their workforce.
Rising up for better financial health
RISE (Reimagining Industry to Support Equality), is helping accelerate this shift by demonstrating what truly worker-centered financial health can look like in practice.
Since 2012, RISE, an industry collaborative, has been at the forefront of global efforts to improve the lives of workers in garment and footwear supply chains, working with brands, suppliers, and financial partners. The RISE Financial Health program provides worker training on financial planning, budgeting, saving, decision-making and using financial services, as well as technical advice for managers to promote suitable financial products and services in the workplace such as digitizing wages for those with a cash payroll. In countries like Indonesia where workers are already paid into digital accounts, this includes promoting digital financial services and access to savings and low-cost loans to build financial resilience.
In Indonesia, RISE and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth have adapted RISE’s Financial Health model for the country context, and it is currently being delivered in 78 factories that produce for global brands, supporting over 117,000 workers.
Makalot Group, a supplier to global brands including Gap Inc., Target, GU and Under Armour, is committed to supporting worker financial health through its work with RISE. To date, more than 23,000 workers worldwide, including over 10,000 workers in its Indonesian factories, have participated in modules on financial planning, budgeting, saving, and digital financial services.
The power of financial health: garment workers’ stories
For factory workers, the RISE programs make a difference. Workers are provided with the opportunity to learn effective financial planning techniques, enabling them to better manage their day-to-day finances. Because the trainings are scheduled around payday, the guidance feels timely and directly applicable to their real financial decisions.
Anik is one of the garment workers in Indonesia who joined the RISE training. With her husband Bagus, she also runs a small business selling vegetables. Previously, the couple managed their incomes separately and often spent on impulsive purchases that kept them from building their savings. Through the RISE training, Anik learned to plan their spending and to involve her whole family in budgeting and financial decisions. Today, they prioritize savings and invest for their children’s education and their retirement.
Garment workers in the RISE program have also started saving for long-term goals like their own higher education. Devi is 21 years old and dreams of going to college to study IT or English Literature. Before joining the RISE program, Devi did not track her spending. Now, she knows how to budget for her family’s needs, her motorbike loan repayments, and her social activities. She has even started saving 10% of her wages through Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) for her college fund and her future.
Most workers have become more confident in their financial lives and planning for the future. Yuliana and her husband Rudy, who both work at the Makalot Group factory, took out a three-year loan for 20 million rupiah with 6% interest per year to build their own home. Before joining the RISE program, they managed their incomes separately and did not keep expense records or have a fixed budget. Now, they combine their earnings, allocating 60% of their income for everyday expenses and loan repayments, 20% for miscellaneous expense, and 20% for savings. Together, they record and track all their expenses, set financial goals, and save for their child’s education. They have purchased a goat to develop a second income stream which they invest into long-term assets for their child’s education. As Yuliana said, “In the past, we walked our own paths. Now we walk together, one goal, one direction.”
What’s next for garment workers’ financial health
The promise of the RISE program lies in its potential to expand and scale. Over one million workers have so far engaged with RISE programs across 837 workplaces in 10 markets, but there are many more workers to reach. RISE is also working on an expanded joint focus between the garment and financial sectors and governments on products like insurance, investments, and long-term savings schemes to translate digital wages into better financial health and more inclusive and resilient economies.
Anik, Devi, Yuliana and Rudy’s experiences demonstrate that great progress has been made in supporting workers to manage everyday expenses, create early savings habits and build financial confidence. There is a critical need to continue to support workers to respond to financial emergencies and improve long-term financial outcomes for themselves and their families. The early work on digital wages demonstrates what is possible when employers, brands and financial service providers work together. Now it’s time to make the next push. The impact for workers already makes a marked difference, now let’s deliver long term transformation.