Rising unemployment rate, income dip add to household woes

AMMAN — A 2021 labour and unemployment survey conducted by the Department of Statistics (DoS), showed that unemployment reached 27 per cent among married couples and 43 per cent among Jordanians who have never worked before.

Sociologist Hussein Khozahe said that 55 per cent of Jordanians have a monthly income of less than JD435, equivalent to JD5,230 per year.

According to Khozahe, 82.7 per cent of Jordanians make less than JD500 a month. He said poverty rates published by the government need to be “re-examined.”

Mohammad Hazem, who supports his family of five, said that “the situation is difficult and everyone knows that”.

He said that his earnings only last the first 10 days of the month. 

“Without the government’s support,” he said, “nothing will get better.”

Suad Zuhair, a Jordanian mother and the only breadwinner in her family, said that the pandemic devastated many Jordanians’ livelihoods. 

“Many of them slipped into extreme poverty,” she told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

Jordanians have expenses far more than they earn, according to economist Mazen Marji. He said that about 50 per cent of Jordanian youth who are considered the ones that boost the local economy are unemployed, he added.