‘Less than 40% of Jordanians satisfied with access to jobs’

AMMAN — Less than 40 per cent of Jordanians are satisfied with their access to jobs, according to the results of an opinion poll announced on Saturday.

The poll, which included a sample of 1,200 families in the country’s 12 governorates, addressed Jordanians' satisfaction with five main human rights.

Conducted by the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies for the second year in a row, the poll showed that only 36.6 per cent of Jordanians are satisfied with the right to access jobs and 11.1 per cent said they do not have access to this right.

Of the total sample, 53 per cent said members of their families have access to free education, while 2.5 per cent said they do not enjoy this right.

In addition, 45.4 per cent of the sample said there are schools with “suitable” infrastructure that includes yards and playgrounds, while 5.7 per cent said schools lack such infrastructure.

As for the right to access healthcare, 67 per cent of the surveyed sample said they have health insurance.

Responding to questions on the right to housing, 69 per cent of the polled Jordanians said they own the houses they live in, while the rest said they live in rented lodgings.

Meanwhile, 55.1 per cent said they are financially capable of affording their food needs, while 2.7 per cent said they cannot.

Phenix Centre Director Ahmad Awad said some indicators in this year’s poll witnessed a drop compared to the poll conducted a year earlier due to the economic and social pressures that Jordanians face. 

He blamed government policies and the impact of hosting a large number of Syrian refugees for the mounting pressure.