Unemployment rate reaches 24.8% in Q2 of 2021 — DoS

AMMAN — The unemployment rate reached 24.8 per cent during the second quarter of 2021, decreasing by 0.2 percent compared with the first quarter of 2021, and increasing by 1.9 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2020, the Department of Statistics (DoS) said on Tuesday.

In its quarterly report on the unemployment rate in the Kingdom, the DoS said that the rate among males during the April-June period of 2021 went up by 1.2 points to 22.7 per cent, while the rate among females increased by 4.5 points to 33.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2020.

The unemployment rate among university degree holders (unemployed individuals holding a bachelor’s or higher degree divided by the workforce of the same academic qualification), also went up to 31.1 per cent compared with other educational levels.

The results also indicated that 56.7 per cent of unemployed people hold a secondary education certificate or a higher qualification, while 43.3 per cent of jobless people were those with less than secondary educational qualifications.

The unemployment rate also differed according to gender, as the rate of unemployed males who hold a bachelor’s degree and higher reached 31.2 per cent, where the percentage increased to 83.4 per cent among females who hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

Geographically, Balqa topped the list of unemployment among the 12 governorates registering 28.2 per cent, while Karak recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the Kingdom with 15.7 per cent.