Amman – The transformation of Jordan’s energy sector is opening new horizons for the labor market as renewable energy projects expand, interest grows in local energy sources and modern technologies increases, and companies increasingly seek specialized expertise in engineering, operations and maintenance, electricity storage, data analysis and artificial intelligence.
Employment opportunities associated with this transformation are not limited to direct jobs created by energy projects during their construction and operation phases. They also extend to the industrial, agricultural, commercial and services sectors through the potential to reduce energy costs, enhance business competitiveness and stimulate new investment.
However, turning these opportunities into sustainable jobs requires, according to economists and energy-sector specialists, aligning education and training outcomes with actual market needs, expanding practical training, and linking investment incentives to clear indicators for job creation and knowledge transfer to Jordanian professionals.
Renewable Energy’s 27% Share: What Does It Mean for Jobs?
Economic expert Munir Diya said the transformation of Jordan’s energy sector has contributed to creating direct employment opportunities for young people through projects operating across several fields, in addition to activities linked to the mining sector, increasing demand for engineering, technical and vocational expertise.
He explained that the expansion of renewable energy projects, particularly solar and wind power plants, has increased demand for engineers and technicians specializing in system installation, operation and maintenance. These fields require continuously updated technical skills to keep pace with advances in energy technology.
He added that these developments require the modernization of university majors and training programs to ensure young people are qualified for newly emerging jobs and to narrow the gap between graduates’ skills and the technical requirements of companies.
Reflecting the scale of the sector’s transformation, energy expert Dr. Firas Blasmeh noted that renewable energy’s share of Jordan’s electricity mix rose from around 0.5% in 2014 to nearly 27% by the end of 2024.
He said this development reflects a significant change in the structure of the electricity sector, but does not necessarily mean that employment has increased at the same rate. This makes it important to distinguish between the growth of energy investment and the number of jobs actually created, as well as their sustainability, wage levels and contribution to transferring knowledge to Jordanian workers.
From Installing Panels to AI: The Job Map Is Changing
Jobs associated with the energy sector are no longer limited to electrical engineering, solar panel installation and traditional maintenance. The expansion of modern technologies is opening the door to a wider range of specialties, including artificial intelligence, data analysis, industrial cybersecurity, smart grids, electricity storage and electric transportation.
Blasmeh said renewable energy projects have created a new professional ecosystem encompassing solar system design and performance analysis, energy production forecasting, integration of renewable sources into electricity grids, as well as advanced operations and maintenance based on data analysis, predictive maintenance and remote monitoring of power plants.
Green hydrogen projects, Blasmeh said, represent a longer-term industrial opportunity, with the potential number of jobs depending on projects reaching investment, implementation and commercial operation stages rather than simply announcing plans and targets.
In the same context, financial and economic expert Dr. Mohammad Al-Hadab Al-Sarhan said future demand for workers is expected to expand in three interconnected areas: electricity storage, smart-grid management and improving energy efficiency in factories and buildings.
He explained that the expansion of renewable energy sources will increase demand for specialists in production and demand forecasting, control-system programming, battery maintenance and electricity-load management. Energy-efficiency programs, meanwhile, will create opportunities for engineers and technicians capable of measuring waste and developing solutions that reduce energy consumption and utility bills.
Green hydrogen could also create specialized positions in water electrolysis, industrial safety and chemical process control, he said. However, the scale and timing of these opportunities will remain linked to the progress of projects toward actual implementation.
Temporary Jobs Are Not Enough: The Focus Is on Sustainable Employment
Alongside the opportunities created by the energy transition, a key challenge is measuring the real impact of investments on the labor market, particularly because project needs during construction differ from those during operation, maintenance and management.
Al-Sarhan said jobs created during the construction of solar and wind power plants differ from permanent positions required to manage, operate and maintain these facilities. This means assessing the employment impact of investments requires indicators that go beyond the total number of workers employed during construction.
Blasmeh agreed on the importance of this approach, stressing the need to measure the impact of energy projects annually in terms of the number of permanent jobs, the share held by Jordanians and wage levels. This would help ensure that investments translate from infrastructure and equipment into productive opportunities that contribute to economic development and provide young people with long-term career paths.
These indicators are also important for determining projects’ ability to generate local added value, whether through direct employment or by developing national engineering and technology service companies, thereby expanding the circle of beneficiaries from investments.
Diya said greater reliance on local energy sources could help reduce energy costs and improve the investment environment, creating opportunities for expansion in industrial, agricultural, commercial and service activities.
Providing energy at lower costs, whether through electricity generation or by making natural gas available to industrial zones, could encourage new investment and increase economic activity, potentially creating additional jobs outside the energy sector itself.
Skills Gap Limits Full Access to Opportunities
Despite Jordan’s large pool of graduates in engineering, information technology and technical disciplines, the transition from academic qualifications to professional readiness remains a challenge to fully benefiting from emerging jobs.
Blasmeh said the main challenge lies in aligning graduates’ skills with the actual needs of modern technologies, amid gaps between the supply and demand for green skills, particularly in electricity and energy-related fields.
He called for expanding practical training within projects, developing specialized vocational programs linked to companies’ needs, connecting training with employment, and encouraging investment in national engineering and technology service companies.
He also called for making use of the Labor Market Information System launched by the Ministry of Labor to prepare an annual list of the most in-demand occupations in the energy sector and update university and vocational training programs accordingly, while providing paid practical training opportunities in cooperation with companies.
He stressed the importance of establishing training and employment pathways for women and young people in the governorates, particularly in digital monitoring, data analysis and technical maintenance, to broaden the geographic and social benefits of energy investments.
Blasmeh also stressed the need to link major investments to the development of Jordanian talent and knowledge transfer, ensuring that projects’ impact extends beyond providing infrastructure to building local expertise capable of operating and developing modern systems.
From the Energy Transition to a Labor Market Transformation
Developments in the energy sector reveal an opportunity that goes beyond diversifying electricity sources to include developing national skills, creating new professional fields and strengthening the ability of economic sectors to expand and increase production.
As renewable energy, storage and smart-grid technologies advance, Jordan faces the challenge of building an integrated cycle linking investment, training, employment and knowledge transfer. This would ensure that growth in the energy sector translates into sustainable jobs and broader added value for the national economy.
Source: Al-Ghad
