AMMAN —
Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights has called for a
reconsideration of the Ministry of Investment's list of occupations closed to
non-Jordanians, stressing that the implementation of the instructions will push
more workers into the shadow economy, depriving them of social protection.
اضافة اعلان
In a
statement released on Sunday, Tamkeen said the measure to expand occupations
closed to non-Jordanians will eventually lead to increased insurance evasion,
as the Jordanian market requires these foreign workers and will employ them
regardless of the regulations.
Bad
news for workers, companiesIn
general, non-Jordanian workers have lower access to social protection and are
among the most vulnerable groups in the labor market. Numbers from the
Social Security Corporation's annual report in 2021 indicate that only 11.9 percent of
all active workers in the group are covered by insurance.
Increasing tax evasion means a rising burden on companies and taxpayers and reduced public revenues, which will lead the government to increase taxes.
Furthermore,
increasing tax evasion means a rising burden on companies and taxpayers and
reduced public revenues, which will lead the government to increase taxes.
"Contradictory
decisions recently issued by the Jordanian government state that the main
objective is to combat unemployment in Jordan, which has reached unprecedented
figures,” the statement said, noting that unemployment rates in the fourth quarter
of last year stood at 23.9 percent, according to the
Department of Statistics.
About
the instructions
Under
the new guidelines, non-Jordanians of both sexes are prohibited from working in
barbershops; upholstery and furniture renovation workshops; dessert, pastry, or ice cream production facilities for direct sale;
carpentry; blacksmithing; aluminum fabrication; and metal processing
industries.
Non-Jordanians are also prohibited from working in embroidery and traditional
sewing workshops, goldsmiths and jewelry
workshops, pure water bottling facilities, and nut roasting and packaging
facilities for the purpose of direct sale.
Although
these instructions are not new, they constitute an update to instructions
issued in 2016, which prohibited
non-Jordanians from working in 15 trades. However,
the re-issuance of these instructions has sparked discussions about their
practical effectiveness in reducing the problem of unemployment in Jordan.
The
statement said that, despite the government's continued affirmations that the
main goal is to fight unemployment, actual analysis indicates that for the past
20 years when similar decisions have been active, the unemployment rates have
been increasing steadily.
Despite the government's continued affirmations that the main goal is to fight unemployment, actual analysis indicates that for the past 20 years when similar decisions have been active, the unemployment rates have been increasing steadily.
The
main reasons for that are the lack of planning within successive governments
for overcoming the problem of unemployment and weak investment policies placing
restrictions on investors in terms of taxes and fees.
Increased
challenges for GazansThese
instructions and procedures also increase the complexities burdening people
from the Gaza Strip, who are treated in the labor market as non-Jordanians, as
they carry only temporary Jordanian passports that enable them to travel but do
not entitle them to obtain citizenship.
In
2019, when Parliament discussed amendments to the
Labor Law, the Lower House
approved a proposal to exempt both children of Jordanian women and children of
Gazans from obtaining work permits, but the Senate’s Labor and Legal Committees
did not agree to this amendment, limiting the exemption to children of
Jordanian women and rejecting it for Gazans.
The
article was amended in the Labor Law at the time to exempt children of
Jordanian women from obtaining work permits, and to exempt Gazans from only the
fees for issuing work permits, which means that the list of closed professions
applies to them.
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