Unemployment slightly up, but drops among women

AMMAN — The unemployment rate during the second quarter of 2018 was 18.7 per cent, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS) quarterly report on the unemployment rate in the Kingdom.

The figure entails a slight rise from the same period last year.

The report pointed out that the unemployment rate for females during the second quarter of 2018 was 26.8 per cent, constituting a decline by 7.1 percentage points, compared with the second quarter of 2017, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The progress was attributed to the programmes implemented by the Ministry of Labour in cooperation with partners through intensive employment projects, especially in the productive sectors, in addition to increasing the integration of women in the local labour market, improving the work environment and increasing the number of nurseries in public and private sector institutions, the report added. 

Commenting on the finding of the DoS report, Labour Minister Samir Murad said on Monday that the labour force survey, in its new approach, included a sample of about 16,000 families distributed across all the governorates of the Kingdom, representing urban and rural segments. 

The labour force survey is conducted in the middle of each quarter and provides data that reflects the reality of the entire quarter (April, May, June), where the respondent is asked whether he or she has had a job during the four weeks prior to the interview, according to the international recommendations adopted by Jordan, the minister added. 

He explained that the slight rise in the rate is linked to seasonal unemployment, as a result of changes in the labour market during the time span of the field survey, such as the change of economic activities and the entry of new graduates into the local market.