Unemployment among females reaches 23.1

Jordan- Women Gateway

59% of them with bachelor degrees or higher

The quarterly report issued by the Department of Statistics for the first quarter of 2009 show that the employment rate is 12.1% (9.7% for males and 23.1% for females), while the employment rate for fourth quarter of 2008 was 12%.

The survey’s results show that unemployment rate was high among bachelor degree holders or higher by (15.6%) as compared with other educational levels. For age groups 15-19 years and 20-24 years, the average was 33.7% and 24.3% respectively as compared with other age groups.

As for the educational level, the results indicate that 1% of unemployed are illiterate, 47% less than secondary (65% for males compared to 10% for females) while 59% hold a bachelor degree or higher.

As for the employed, the quarterly results show that about 64.3% of males were within the age group 20-30 years, compared with 79% for females and that the educational qualifications of about 51% of them were less than secondary, compared with 79% for females and that the educational qualifications of about 51% of them were less than secondary, 12% are holders of secondary qualifications and 35% are holders of higher than secondary.

With regards to the nature of the work, the survey shows that 21% of male workers are employed in elementary occupations, while the percentage of workers in professions are specialized professions were 18.2% and 16.4% each respectively. Among working females 50.2% of them are in specialized professions and 22.4% in the profession of technicians and specialized assistants.

The results also indicate that the rate of crude economic participation (the workforce attributed to the total population) is still low in Jordan at about 24.7%. the revised economic participants rate is (the workforce attributed to the population 15 years and over) 63.7% for males compared with 13.8% for females in contrast with 63.9% for males and 14.4% for females in the first quarter of 2008.

As for the characteristics of the Jordanian workforce, the results show clear variance between males and females in terms of educational levels. It is found that about 95% of the total male labour force is below the secondary level compared to 13% for females. The results also indicate that 53% of the total labour force among females are a bachelor degree holders or higher compare with 19% among males.

It should be noted that the survey sample size was about 13 thousand families distributed all over the governorates of the Kingdom and representative of all urban and rural areas and regions.