Profitability and Economic Efficiency of the Hair Craft Creative Industry in Purbalingga Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purbalingga is a regency in Central Java Province which is famous for its hair craft creative industry. During the Covid-19 pandemic, like any other business, it also experienced a period of declining performance. The purpose of this study was to analyze its profitability and efficiency before and during the pandemic. The method used was profit analysis and R/C ratio. Samples were taken based on purposive random sampling with hair craft entrepreneurs as respondents. The results showed that: (1) Before the pandemic, on average each hair craft entrepreneur earned IDR 4.96 million per month, where there were entrepreneurs whose profits reached a maximum of IDR 25 million and a minimum of IDR 500 thousand. During the pandemic, on average each entrepreneur suffered a loss of IDR305 thousand per month, where there were entrepreneurs who could still earn a maximum profit of IDR 4.5 million but there were also those who suffered a maximum loss of IDR 400 thousand per month. (2) Before the pandemic, the average R/C ratio of each entrepreneur was 1.6, meaning that the revenue was 1.6 times greater than the costs incurred. During the pandemic, the average R/C ratio of entrepreneurs did not reach 1, i.e. 0.96, meaning that revenues were unable to cover the costs (inefficiency). Thus, it can be concluded that the occurrence of a pandemic caused a decrease in its performance. Therefore, full support is needed from various parties so that this creative industry can still exist as a leading industry.Keywords: Creative industry; hair craft; profitability; efficiency; featured product