Integrating Syrian labour

Newspapers and some private media enterprises are not convinced by the statements made by government officials on the integration of Syrian workers into the labour force.

They question the credibility of assertions that Syrian workers will not affect Jordanian labour employability.

A recent population census revealed that unemployment among Jordanians is close to 17 per cent, or 3.5 percentage points higher than the official statistics.

A World Bank report on Jordan mentioned that unemployment rate was about 23 per cent. Highly misquoted, some government critics quote the figure at 26 or 28 per cent.

Most probably, the 23 per cent unemployment rate mentioned by the World Bank refers to both Jordanian and Syrian labourers seeking jobs in the local labour market.

According to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury, there are big labour deficits in certain sectors. 

In a lecture about three weeks ago, he mentioned that only 3 per cent of labourers employed in agriculture are Jordanian, while in construction the figure is 7 per cent and in tertiary services only 15 per cent.

If this data is correct, we should not be surprised that about 1 million guest workers work in Jordan, mostly in these three sectors.

Almost half of Jordanians unemployed are holders of high school degrees or less. If the market allows them to work, the rate of unemployment among Jordanians would drop to half its current level.

The issue that is on everybody’s mind is whether Syrians are going to substitute Jordanians or labourers of other nationalities.

Most probably they could replace other nationalities without much ado and even fill job vacancies that neither Jordanians nor non-Syrian guest workers are filling.

Syrians can be excellent sales employees, cooks and construction labourers, such as tilers, plasterers, painters and decorators.

They are also very good in textiles and tailoring, fields where many non-Jordanians work in places like free zones and qualifying industrial zones.

Absorbing Syrians in these sectors will not be very difficult. However, Ministry of Labour experience showed that substituting Jordanians with guest workers was the problem.

Before Jordanians show willingness and ability to work at gas stations, restaurants and other hospitality outlets, they have to go through a long and rigorous convincing process and months of training. 

They also require health and pension coverage.

Syrians may pose a job threat to Jordanian labourers in some places, particularly in the informal economy. But it is the duty of the government and the private sector to create top-of-the-ladder vocational training for Jordanian labourers.

Jordanians must learn to become high-quality plumbers, decorators, welders, legal and pharmaceutical assistants, executive secretaries, watchmen, foresters, social workers, career guides, programmers, irrigation experts, renewable energy technicians, etc.

Jobs that require semi-skills and short on-the-job training could be kept for others. 

The writer, a former Royal Court chief and deputy prime minister, is a member of Senate. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.