Jordan faces ‘ongoing decline of women’s economic participation’

AMMAN — The Phenix Centre for Economics and Informatics Studies on Tuesday launched two studies related to violence against women at work and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people in the Jordanian labour market.

The studies, titled “Women’s Safety in Work” and “Youth Participation and Employment in Jordan”, were published during the National Forum for the Promotion of Female and Youth Employment, organised by the Phenix Centre in cooperation with Oxfam as part of the Danish-Arab partnership programme.

Head of the Phenix Centre Ahmad Awwad said that the main challenges faced by Jordan are the ongoing decline of women’s economic participation and a steep increase in unemployment levels. He called for “radical” amendments to economic policies towards cutting indirect taxes and reviewing the policies on low wages.

Citing the results of “Youth Participation and Employment in Jordan”, Hadeel Qudah, a Phenix representative, said that two-thirds of companies in Jordan cannot offer training programmes for youth. The results also projected the economic activities of 40-60 per cent of SMEs will decrease during the next three years. 

Ghadir Khufash, head of Education for Employment, said that the labour market only generates around 30,000 jobs a year, while 300,000 young people are looking for jobs.

During the second session, Ola Bader, a researcher, reviewed the results of “Women’s Safety in Work”, noting that there is a link between the low income of women and their health. 

More than 46 per cent of the study’s sample of more than 380 women from Tafileh, Madaba, Karak and Maan are paid less than the minimum wage, 50 per cent lack health insurance and 36.6 per cent are not covered by social security, according to the study.