Gov’t seeks to employ 60,000 Jordanians this year

The government, through the National Employment Program, seeks to encourage the private sector to provide more job opportunities to combat unemployment, a major challenge facing the national economy, especially after the pandemic’s fallout.

During a press conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh announced the employment strategies conducted by the government.

The government has allocated JD80 million in the 2022 budget to implement the program, which aims to employ 60,000 Jordanians this year through wage subsidies of a monthly JD150 for 6 months, in accordance with annual employment contracts signed with the private sector.

According to the program, unemployment rates during the third quarter of 2021 were at 23.2 percent, dropping by 1.6 percent compared with the second quarter of the same year and by 0.7 percent compared with the third quarter of 2020.

The PM had formed a work team for the program headed by the Minister of Labor and Secretary Generals of the ministries of Industry, Planning, Labor, Agriculture and Finance, in addition to the Social Security Corporation and the Business Development Center as members.

The program pointed out other challenges in the labor market, such as the need for a comprehensive data system and the increasing number of unemployed people; hitting 400,000 at a time when 350,000 authorized non-Jordanian workers are in the Kingdom, along with the rise of un-authorized non-Jordanian workers.

According to the National Employment Program, a public national employment work frame has been put in place to face the challenges through combining efforts and building partnerships with the National Employment Council. The work frame also includes enhancing the work environment in the private sector and regulating the use of non-Jordanian workers.

The program will be implemented in fields of enhancing the governance of training, employing and determining the labor market needs. The National Employment Council and sectorial skills councils will also be activated.

The targeted age group will range from 18 to 40, divided equally in percentages between males and females.

Source: Jordan News Agency

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