100 illegal workers arrested in 2 days — Labour Ministry

AMMAN — The Labour Ministry arrested 100 illegal guest workers and issued fines against their employers over the last two days, as part of the ministry’s crackdown campaign, the ministry’s spokesperson, Mohammad Khatib, said on Tuesday. 

The ministry’s inspectors have been working round-the-clock on Sunday and Monday to detect and deport guest labourers working without work permits in jobs reserved for Jordanians, Khatib told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

The inspection campaign comes in line with the ministry’s efforts to regulate the national labour market in accordance with the National Programme for Employment (2017-2021) launched in September.

The programme aims to replace guest workers with Jordanians in the sectors of industry, tourism, agriculture, construction, services and power, through providing training programmes followed by employment opportunities, Khatib explained. 

The ministry allocated JD100 million for the employment and empowerment strategy, which covers part of the trainees’ wages, social security, transportation and health insurance fees to encourage the private sector in employing Jordanians, he added.

Minister of Labour Ali Ghezawi announced earlier this month that there are more than 800,000 guest workers without work permits in the Kingdom.

During the first nine months of 2017, the ministry caught 6,000 illegal migrant workers during 40,000 inspections to workplaces, Khatib said. 

Khatib said that around 350,000 guest workers are registered and hold work permits.