Some 1.3m people covered under Social Security umbrella

AMMAN — The number of people covered by the Social Security Corporation (SSC) this month increased to 1.305 million, 67,000 of which are optional subscribers.

The number of optional subscribers comprises 5 per cent of the SSC’s active subscriber base, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi said that the number of non-Jordanians included reached 163,000 people, constituting 12.5 per cent of the total number of active SSC subscribers.

The number of women subscribers, Sbeihi said, is currently at 372,000, representing 28.5 per cent of the corporation’s active base.

The spokesperson added that a total of 15,878 business owners, who work at their companies, are covered by the SSC, according to Petra.

The average monthly salary for those included in the SSC is JD542, he noted.

Sbeihi added that the Social Security Law governs all those who fall under the Labour Law, workers who are not covered by the civil or military retirement laws, business owners, self-employed individuals, co-owners of businesses who work within their institutions and Jordanians who are part of regional, international and Arab or foreign political missions.

During the first quarter of this year, the SSC received 4,069 optional subscription applications from Jordanians both inside and outside the Kingdom, compared with 2,719 during the same period of last year.

A statement, released earlier in April, revealed that the aforementioned subscription applications were submitted from Jordanians residing in around 40 countries worldwide.

Eligible subscribers for optional social security insurance must be Jordanian, between 16-55 years of age (for those subscribing for the first time) and not officially registered as workers.