AMMAN — Economic experts believe
that the
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nasser Shraideh’s
plan to allocate JD80 million from the 2022 budget bill for a national
employment program is a short-sighted and marginal.
اضافة اعلان
The ministry is attempting to create 60,000
sustainable job opportunities during 2022 to combat the high unemployment rate
amongst Jordanians, which stands at 23.2 percent.
Former Minister for State of Economic Affairs
Yusuf Mansur told
Jordan News that the current phenomenon of the high
unemployment rate results from many previous economic issues. However, the
ministry’s JD80 million allocations are insufficient to drive the economic
wheel to create sustainable job opportunities.
“Unemployment is the result of failure almost
everywhere,” Mansur said.
He explained that the current situation is a
result of bad or short-sighted economic policies like focusing on the real
estate and construction sector, which is a secure investment but does not
create jobs.
Moreover, he pointed to the fact the public
sector pays more than the market rate for low-quality training and below the
market rate for high-quality training. Mansur also points to the export of
educated and skilled workers to the Gulf countries since the 1970s as another
example, in addition to high energy costs that impact production and the
decrease foreign investment.
“Every boom that happened in Jordan went into
real estate. So we’re missing the opportunity… there’s a responsibility upon
the government,” he added.
Economic and Investment Specialist
Wajdi Makhamreh also agrees that this critical issue results from the passive or
ineffective government’s economic strategies over the years. He described the
ministry’s plan as a short-termed marginal plan.
“The plan that is being put forward is a
marginal one that will not fundamentally resolve the problem of unemployment. I
am not sure how the plan will create 60,000 job opportunities; most probably
salaries will be low and short-termed,” Makharmeh said. “What matters is job sustainability, to have
big projects, to take advantage of promising sectors that the government did
not use,” he added.
He explained that the government should tackle
issues like the increase in the number of graduates from saturated academic
specializations, the lack of developed vocational training centers, limited
support for
entrepreneurial initiatives, and to end the taboo culture that
stops Jordanians from working in low-paid jobs by increasing minimum wages to
attract the youth.
“If this did not happen, any plan they do will be
marginal and will not satisfy our needs. So what matters is sustainability; we
do not want a short-term project, which once they are over, unemployment rate
jumps again,” Makharmeh added.
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