Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Survey puts jobless rate during 1st quarter of this year at 14.3%

AMMAN (JT) — Results of the Employment and Unemployment Survey implemented by the Department of Statistics (DoS) during February 2007 revealed that at 14.3 per cent (11.8 per cent for males against 25.4 per cent for females) there was no significant difference in the unemployment rate as compared to the first quarter of 2006 when the rate was 14.4 per cent.

The results of the first quarter of this year showed that the rates in the age groups 15-19 and 20-24 years were high, 40.8 per cent and 27.4 per cent respectively. It was also high among those holding a bachelor degree or higher (15.7 per cent).

The results have also shown that around 74.4 per cent of the unemployed were concentrated in the age group 20-39 years and that 1.2 per cent of the unemployed are illiterate. 49.7 per cent of them have less than a secondary level education (66 per cent for males and 16 per cent for females). Meanwhile, 47 per cent of the unemployed females hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

As for the employed, the results indicated that they are concentrated in the age group 25-54 years constituting 74 per cent of the total. Around 49 per cent of the employed persons hold less than a secondary level education, around 14 per cent from the secondary level and 35 per cent above the secondary level.

Regarding the distribution of the employed by occupation, the results showed that 20.9 per cent of the them work in primary occupations, while the percentage of workers in crafts and related occupations was 16.1 per cent.

Of the employed females, 44.9 per cent were professionals and 26.1 per cent technicians and associate specialised professionals.

By economic sectors, results have shown that 19.8 per cent of the employed worked in the public administration sector, defence and social security. Workers in the wholesale and retail trade sector came in second place with a percentage of 16.6 per cent. These ratios were 22.1 per cent and 18.7 per cent for males in the public administration, defence and trade sectors.

As for employed females, 40.2 per cent of them work in the education sector and 16.1 per cent in the health sector and social work. The results also revealed that 83.6 per cent of the employed were paid employees (81.5 per cent for males and 94.1 per cent for females).

Crude Activity Rate (i.e. the work force in proportion to total population) is still low in Jordan at 24.8 per cent. The Refined Activity Rate (i.e. the work force in proportion to population 15 years of age or above) was around 64.3 per cent for males and 14.9 per cent for females.

As for the characteristics of the Jordanian labour force, the results presented a significant variation among males and females in relation to their educational level, where 56.7 per cent of the total male labour force are below the secondary educational level against 14.7 per cent for females.

Conversely, around 46 per cent of the total labour force among females hold a bachelor’s degree or higher educational level as compared to 18.3 per cent among males.

The survey comprised a sample of 13,000 households distributed over all governorates of the Kingdom.

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