The unemployment in Jordan recorded an unprecedented record high in the last quarter of last year (2020), in light of the economy suffering from the repercussions of the Coronavirus pandemic, which cast a wide negative shadow over various activities, especially tourism, whose revenues plunged by about 75 percent.
The Public Statistics Department revealed that the unemployment rate reached 24.7 percent, compared to 19 percent in the last quarter of 2019. The unemployment rate among males reached 22.6 percent at the end of last December, likened to 17.7 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2019, while the percentage among females was 32.8% compared to 24.1%.
Despite the data showing the extent of the repercussions of the pandemic on the labor market, economists believe that unemployment figures exceed the percentage announced by the government. In this context, the Phoenix Center for Economic and Informational Studies states that the percentage revealed by the Department of General Statistics is unprecedented and indicates that the impact of the Corona epidemic was significant, as before the epidemic the rate was 19.3 percent, and today it increased by more than 5 percent.
The Jordanian economy generally suffers in light of the pandemic, as data issued by the Central Bank showed that the Kingdom's tourism income fell by 76 percent over the past year to one billion dinars ($1.4 billion).
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
