The Structure of Employment and Job Creation in Jordan: 2010-2016

In this paper, we analyze the structure of employment and job creation in Jordan over the period from 2010 to 2016. This period coincided with a notable downturn in the economy, which substantially reduced the rate of job creation. Nonetheless, Jordan continued to rely on a growing population of migrant workers whose numbers were further boosted by the influx of Syrian refugees, resulting in approximately one out of two new jobs going to a non-Jordanian. For Jordanians, employment rates continued to fall, and employment became more precarious for the poorest, least educated workers, despite an increase in the share of public sector employment. Unskilled Jordanian males shifted out of informal regular wage employment into irregular work as well as non-employment. With regard to labor market dynamics, the share of the public sector in the first-time employment of new entrants had started to increase after an extended decline. The increase has now reversed again, but many recent entrants still managed to obtain public sector jobs five years after entry. The transition from school to work is very protracted, with a large fraction of youth remaining in the not in education, employment or training (NEET) state for an extended period of time.