Amman, May 11, 2026
A new report on employment trends in Jordan during the firstquarter of 2026 has revealed that more than half of the job vacanciesadvertised in the Jordanian labor market now require communication, language,and digital skills. This indicates that a university degree alone is no longersufficient to secure employment, as the labor market is rapidly shifting towarda model based on skills, practical experience, and technology. However, asignificant number of jobs are still filled through traditional channels basedon personal connections and are not advertised in newspapers or digitalplatforms.
The report, issued by the Phenix Center for Economic andInformatics Studies, which monitored job advertisements published in printnewspapers and various online platforms, found that 53.3% of advertised jobsrequire communication skills and English language proficiency, while 51.5%require technical and digital skills. In addition, 47.4% of vacancies requireadministrative, organizational, and project management skills, reflecting arapid transformation in the nature of labor demand in the Jordanian market.
The findings show that digital platforms have become theprimary channel for job advertising, accounting for 69.4% of all monitored jobpostings, compared to only 30.6% in print newspapers. The report considers thisevidence of the ongoing digitalization of the employment market in Jordan,while print newspapers continue to play a role in certain official andinstitutional announcements.
According to the report, LinkedIn ranked first among digitalplatforms, accounting for 23.9% of total job advertisements, followed by Baytat 14.5%, Tanqeeb at 10.1%, and Akhtaboot at 8.7%. This suggests that jobseekers increasingly need a strong digital professional presence and continuousengagement with online platforms.
At the occupational level, management, project management,human resources, and procurement jobs ranked first, representing 17% of totalvacancies. These were followed by engineering, construction, energy, quality,and safety roles at 14.5%, and marketing, sales, business development, andcustomer service at 12.9%.
The report also highlighted strong demand in health,education, and technology sectors. Health-related jobs (medicine, nursing, andpsychosocial support) accounted for 10.6%, education, training, and researchfor 10.3%, and information technology, programming, data, and artificialintelligence for 9.7%.
It noted that these findings reflect a diversified labormarket demand in Jordan, extending beyond digital jobs to traditional andservice sectors, but with a clear shift in the types of skills required acrossall fields.
Regarding educational qualifications, the report found that51.7% of job postings require a bachelor’s degree, while only 9.4% require ahigh school diploma or equivalent. A master’s degree or higher diploma isrequired in 6.9% of vacancies, specialized certificates in 5.7%, and diploma orassociate degrees in 3.7%. Only 2.5% require a PhD, while 1.1% require onlybasic literacy skills. Meanwhile, 19% of postings did not specify anyeducational requirement.
However, the report emphasized that academic qualificationsalone are no longer the decisive factor in recruitment, as most jobs nowcombine university education with practical skills such as English proficiency,digital literacy, and project management.
In a notable finding, 37.5% of job advertisements did notspecify a particular academic major, which the report interprets as evidence ofa shift in parts of the labor market toward prioritizing skills and practicalexperience over academic specialization alone.
The data also shows that English has become a dominantlanguage in the advertised labor market, with 61.4% of job postings publishedin English compared to 38.6% in Arabic. The report links this to the expansionof international companies, organizations, and modern management and technologysectors, noting that English has effectively become a “gateway skill” to alarge share of job opportunities.
In terms of work experience, the labor market clearly favorscandidates with moderate to high levels of experience. About 20.1% of vacanciesrequire 5 to less than 7 years of experience, and 19.4% require 3 to less than5 years. In contrast, only 21.6% of jobs do not require prior experience or areopen to fresh graduates.
The report sees this as reflecting a persistent “experiencegap” faced by young people entering the labor market, underscoring the need tostrengthen practical and applied training during university education and tobetter align education with real labor market needs.
The report concluded with several recommendations, mostnotably the need to redesign university programs to better link academicdisciplines with practical skills, expand technical and vocational education,introduce mandatory practical training within study plans, and enhanceprofessional English language education.
It also urged job seekers to focus on building marketableskills such as communication, English proficiency, digital skills, teamwork,and to develop professional digital profiles showcasing their experience,projects, and volunteer or practical work.
The report concluded that the Jordanian labor market ismoving toward a new model that combines academic qualifications, skills,practical experience, language proficiency, and technological capability. Itstressed that the best employment opportunities are increasingly tied to a jobseeker’s ability to demonstrate skills and adapt to changing work environments,rather than relying on academic credentials alone.