Aysheh Alghabin
A recent opinion poll conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan found that the most significant challenges Jordanians face, at 45%, are unemployment and lack of job opportunities.
The poll, which was conducted two and a half years after the formation of Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh’s government, also reveals that 20% of respondents report high prices, cost-of-living, as well as low salaries as their key challenges. Another 14% also cite the increase in poverty rates.
CSS has emphasized the importance of addressing these challenges, particularly the high unemployment rates and the lack of job opportunities.
These are considered the most prominent concerns of the current and any future government, and are a central theme in government’s policy statements presented during parliamentary opening sessions and in all previous letters of designation by King Abdullah II.
According to the poll, 74% believe that things in Jordan are moving in a negative direction, due to several reasons. These include deterioration and decline of economic conditions at 38%, followed by the rise of prices and cost-of-living at 20%, the rise of the unemployment rate at 19%, and government’s lack of clarity and direction in its decision-making process at 6%.
The director of the Phenix Center for Economic and Information Studies, Ahmed Awad, has argued that these numbers indicate the failure of the economic and employment policies adopted by the government in reducing unemployment rates.
Awad stressed that the government adopts policies that encourage investment at the expense of decent working conditions and in favor of employers, which leadd job seekers away from private-sector employment.
He stated that unemployment rates "will not decrease" without a "policy review" and pointed towards the ineffectiveness of current employment policies and programs. He especially noted those policies that aim to match job seekers with private employers. Even though the government pays a portion of workers’ wages and social insurance for a certain of time to encourage long-term employment, employers lay these workers’ of, as soon this support stops.
Awad’s point of view is supported by the poll outcomes, which showed that the majority of Jordanians, at 80–85%, believe that the government's economic policies have failed to alleviate economic burdens.
Economic analyst Dr. Adli Kandah has also criticized the government's policies for failing to reduce unemployment to create jobs and has called for a clear plan for implementing the Economic Modernisation Vision approved by the government last year.
Kandah stressed the need for a decent working environment with specific working hours, a suitable minimum wage, legislation protecting workers' rights, an adequate working environment for women, and public transportation for workers’ commute from villages to industrial areas.
He also urged the private sector to be more involved in the government's policies to promote economic growth.
As for Awad, he stated that addressing the issue of unemployment and related policies is a matter of political economy and that the government's inability to amend its policies in this area during the last decades is reflective of its weakness in making decisions for the benefit of the domestic economy.