Joblessness keeps upward trend in Q2

AMMAN — The unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2017 stood at 18 per cent, marking a 2.7 per cent increase when compared to the same period of last year, the Department of Statistics [DoS] announced on Wednesday.

The DoS noted that the rate witnessed a 0.2 per cent drop when compared to the first quarter of 2017, a DoS statement said.

Results of a DoS survey that covered a sample of 16,000 households nationwide, representing urban and rural areas, showed that joblessness stood at 13.4 per cent among males and 33.9 per cent among females in the April-June period of 2017. 

On a gender basis, unemployment among males dropped by 0.5 per cent and went up by 0.9 per cent among females during the second quarter of 2017, when compared to the rates of the first quarter of the same year. 

The unemployment rate in 2016 stood at 15.3 per cent, compared to 13.7 per cent in 2000, according to DoS figures.

The rate of unemployment for males in 2016 stood at 13.3 per cent, up by 1 per cent from 12.3 per cent in 2000, while female unemployment went up by 3.1 per cent, from 21 to 24.1 per cent, during the same span.

The unemployment rate was the lowest in 2014, when it stood at 11.9 per cent, while 2002 and 2016 saw the highest rate in the 2000-2016 period, amounting to 15.3 per cent.