Nike Wants Factory Workers to Earn a Decent Living. In Indonesia, It’s Moved Into Areas Where Workers Don’t.

Nike's expansion in Indonesia has undermined its stated goal of ensuring factory workers earn a living wage, according to an analysis by ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive. Over the last decade, Nike's supplier workforce grew by nearly 112,000 in regions like Central and West Java, where minimum wages are significantly below a living wage. Concurrently, the company shed 36,000 jobs in higher-wage areas near Jakarta, where minimums are closer to or exceed living wage benchmarks. This strategic shift, potentially saving Nike hundreds of millions, highlights a trend where multinational corporations move within countries to achieve major cost savings, often at the expense of worker welfare and established labor protections.