Gov't creates around 96,000 jobs in 2023, 90,000 in 2022 – minister

AMMAN — The national economy generated 95,342 jobs in 2023 and 89,500 others in 2022, Government Communication Minister Muhannad Mubaidin said on Tuesday. 

Speaking at the Government Communication Forum, Mubaidin said that the figures "highlight the resilience of the national economy, at the public and private levels, and the Kingdom's investment environment," the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The average number of generated jobs in the Jordanian economy between 2010 and 2019 stood at 35,000, except for one year when the economy provided some 67,000 jobs, he said, citing figures from the Department of Statistics (DoS). 

"These endeavours reflect progress in realising the goals of the Economic Modernisation Vision that seeks to generate one million jobs in 10 years."

The unemployment rate was estimated at 21.4 per cent during the first quarter of this year, compared with the last quarter of 2023, according to recent figures by DoS.

In its latest report, DoS said that the unemployment rate in the Kingdom decreased slightly by 0.5 percentage points in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

The figures showed that the male unemployment rate reached 17.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, representing a decrease of 2.2 percentage points, while female unemployment reached 34.7 per cent, compared with the first quarter of 2023.