The Jordan Labor Watch warned that the accumulated economic and social indicators witnessed in Jordan over recent years suggest a tangible rise in child labor compared with the levels recorded by the last comprehensive field survey conducted in 2016.
اضافة اعلان
The Labor Watch affiliated to Phenix Center stressed that continued reliance on data that is nearly a decade old weakens the ability to understand the true scale of the phenomenon and limits the effectiveness of policies and programmes designed to address it.
In a research report issued on the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labor, the Labor Watch explained that the last national study estimated the number of working children in Jordan at around 75,000, including approximately 45,000 children engaged in work classified as hazardous. However, since then, Jordan has not conducted any new national survey that would allow for measuring the scale and trends of the phenomenon in light of the economic and social transformations the country has experienced.
The Labor Watch affirmed that child labor should not be treated merely as a legal or regulatory violation, but rather as a direct reflection of deeper crises related to poverty, low wages, fragile social protection, and the expansion of the informal economy.
The Labor Watch stated that a working child does not only reveal a violation of children’s rights, but also points to a family facing growing livelihood pressures, a labor market that does not provide sufficient income for adults, and a social protection system that remains unable to reach all groups in need.
The report noted that the years following the 2016 survey witnessed successive crises, most notably the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, waves of inflation and rising prices, persistently high unemployment rates, rising poverty levels, and declining purchasing power due to low wages. These were compounded by the indirect effects of rapid regional developments, particularly the US-Israeli war on Iran, and the accompanying slowdown in some economic, commercial, and tourism activities, as well as successive increases in the prices of some goods, services, and fuel.
The Labor Watch indicated that these developments have increased livelihood pressures on families, especially low-income families, pushing some of them to adopt harsh coping strategies in response to economic conditions, including involving children in work to help generate additional household income.
The report pointed out that the growth of the phenomenon of “working poor families” represents one of the key factors explaining the persistence of child labor. The presence of employed family members is no longer sufficient to lift households out of poverty or secure a decent standard of living, amid the widening gap between wages and the cost of living.
The Labor Watch added that the largest share of child labor is concentrated in informal economy activities, such as agriculture, small workshops, family-run shops, and street vending. These sectors are characterized by weak oversight and the absence of social protection, making it more difficult to detect working children and leaving them more exposed to exploitation and risks.
The report also noted that recent field studies relied upon by the Labor Watch showed the continued employment of children in the agricultural sector, with some involved in exhausting and hazardous work, including strenuous manual harvesting, the use of sharp tools, and work under harsh weather conditions, in addition to the absence of regular rest periods for many of them.
The Labor Watch emphasized that the persistence of child labor for decades, despite the existence of numerous national strategies and plans, indicates that the problem does not primarily lie in a lack of legislation, but rather in the continued reproduction of the economic and social conditions that push children into the labor market.
The Labor Watch stressed that reducing child labor requires moving beyond a narrow inspection-based approach toward a comprehensive development-based approach that addresses poverty, in-work poverty, and economic vulnerability; raises wages; improves education; expands social protection; and curbs the expansion of the informal economy, while also strengthening the inspection and oversight capacities of the Ministry of Labor.
In conclusion, the Labor Watch called for the urgent implementation of a new national survey on child labor, in order to provide updated and accurate data that would help understand the actual scale and trends of the phenomenon and develop more effective policies to protect children and prevent them from being pushed into the labor market.
