Amman – 28 April 2026
The State of Work in Jordan 2025 report, issued by the Jordanian Labor Watchof the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies, has warned ofincreasing pressures facing the Jordanian labor market in the coming period,amid ongoing geopolitical developments in the region and the continued limitedcapacity of the economy to generate sufficient and decent employmentopportunities.
The report indicates that the slight decline in the unemployment rate in2025 does not reflect a structural improvement in the labor market, but israther linked to the continued creation of low-quality, insecure jobs. It notesthat the unemployment rate reached 21.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025,compared to 24.7% at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, this declineremains limited, given that the economic participation rate stayed low, notexceeding 34.1% during the same period.
According to the report, part of the decline in unemployment isattributable to the narrow base of labor market participants. It points outthat net job creation during the first half of 2025 did not exceedapproximately 48,000 jobs, a figure far below market needs, especially asbetween 120,000 and 150,000 individuals enter the labor market annually.
The report stresses that the Jordanian economy remains unable togenerate sufficient employment opportunities in both quantity and quality, at atime when informal work and platform-based digital employment are expanding.These forms of work largely lack stability, fair wages, and social protection.The report links this to weak economic growth and low employment intensity,which limits the economy’s capacity to absorb young people, women, and newgraduates into stable and productive jobs.
With regard to wages, the report highlights them as one of the mostprominent manifestations of labor market vulnerability. Data from the SocialSecurity Corporation show that around 72% of compulsorily insured workers earnless than 600 Jordanian dinars per month, reflecting the growing phenomenon of“working poverty”. The report emphasizes that this wage level does not coverbasic living costs, pushing many workers to seek additional sources of incomeor hold multiple jobs, thereby increasing pressure on the labor market andreducing available employment opportunities. It also notes that the povertyrate stands at 24.1% according to local data, while the World Bank estimates itat around 35%.
In terms of social protection, the report finds that a significant gappersists, with approximately 54% of the workforce still outside the socialsecurity coverage, despite the number of subscribers rising to about 1.665million. It also estimates social security evasion at 22.4%, reflecting ongoingweak compliance with legal provisions and the continued exclusion of a largesegment of workers-particularly those in self-employment, platform-based work,and informal activities-from insurance coverage. The report stresses theimportance of expanding social security coverage, developing flexible insurancetools, and strengthening monitoring and electronic linkage systems to reducethis gap.
The report further notes that the economic repercussions of theUS–Israeli war on Iran and its regional expansion constitute an additionalpressure factor on the Jordanian economy and labor market. These include risingenergy, transport, and production costs, increased inflationary pressures, anda decline in household purchasing power. It also warns of potential impacts onemployment levels, whether through slower performance in certain domesticsectors or a reduction in job opportunities in Gulf countries, which absorblarge numbers of Jordanian workers.
The report concludes that addressing these challenges requires moreeffective economic and employment policies focused on creating decent jobs,raising wage levels, expanding social protection, and strengthening theresilience of the Jordanian labor market in the face of successive economic andregional shocks.