Serious problem that needs redress

Youth unemployment, in Jordan as everywhere else in the world, is a major crisis in the making that threatens the stability of the country if not attended to swiftly and effectively.

According to the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, some 30 per cent of the young people in Jordan are unemployed. This is a serious figure that gives cause for real concern.

Idle youth can be easy prey to unscrupulous recruiters who could use them to perpetrate mischief or even crime.

According to the same centre, the rate of youth unemployment in the country is among the highest in the world.

With a young population that makes up more than half of the population, that “record” is not difficult to reach, but it should indeed sound the alarm.

Officials must do a lot more to address this worrisome problem that can only get worse as more and more young people finish different levels of education and add to the number of unemployed.

The breakdown of figures on youth unemployment gives more details about the issue, giving more food for thought.

The rate of unemployment among Jordanians aged between 15 and 19 stands at 36 per cent. If this category does not constitute the real challenge since such very young people should be at school learning a trade or finishing their secondary education, the 19-24 age bracket does constitute a crisis.

Unemployment among these, according to the centre, stands at 30.8 per cent. 

These are often university graduates, young people with hopes for a bright future who find themselves idle dependents on their parents.

Or, worse, they are apathetic uneducated youth who, in the absence of something better to do, fall back on gangs or prey to extremist ideologies that promise a better life somewhere down the line.

And the problem does not stop there.

It so happens that there are more job seekers every year than there are employment opportunities.

The latest figures suggest that about 100,000 more work seekers enter the labour market annually.

Even if one settles for the lower figure given by the government, 60,000 annual newcomers to the labour market cannot be absorbed in a country that has no small or big industry and whose services sector is saturated with workers. 

The influx of Syrian and other refugees to the country only exacerbates the unemployment, as much as the government tries to control foreign workers.

Since high youth unemployment spells not only economic woes but also security related dangers, there is need for serious effort to address the issue.