By 2010, the population of the Jakarta Metropolitan Region had risen to 28 million, a rapid increase from 16 million in 1990. Urban areas are both the engines of economic and productivity growth and the centres of trade and innovation, so urbanization provides numerous opportunities for Jakarta and Indonesia as a whole. At the same time, rapid urbanization poses critical challenges, including those of job creation, urbanization of poverty, provision of social services, and environmental degradation. Without addressing these challenges in an integrated and coherent manner, urban areas risk becoming zones of inequality, misery, and degeneration. This paper analyzes trends in urbanization in Jakarta and details a number of policy initiatives aimed at supporting development and decent work in such areas as promotion of decent jobs, skills upgrading, and social protection.