Every time I speak to an official
about a specific issue, they usually go to one of two excuses: the first is to blame
it on regional instabilities, and the second is to say that all countries in
the world have this issue, so it is not unique to
Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
When you read figures from the
World Bank, and they do not flatter nor attack anyone, you will be amazed. What
is even more fascinating is the absence of public response in Jordan, as if
they do not listen, despite knowing the reality, which could be even worse than
what the World Bank figures show.
According to a report from the
World Bank, the unemployment rate among people between the age of 15 and 24 stood
at 50 percent by the end of 2020, a percentage that you will not see in many
other countries.
This means that we are facing a
social earthquake, where al excuses will be useless, be it blaming the influx
of millions of Syrian refugees, the economic downturn, the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic or that the government is unable to provide jobs for collage
educated people in that age group, among many other justifications.
This number might not be accurate
for two reasons: the first is that it does not include the first six months of
2021, which means that the unemployment rate has risen, the second thing is
that these numbers are blind, since it does not take into account hundreds of
thousands who are working for less than JD300, and are considered employed, but
their wages are divided into transportation, smoking, food, and communication,
and these wages are not satisfactory to them as individuals, not to mention that
some have families that need food, medicine, and education, among other
necessities.
If we were to take a closer look
at these numbers, we would find that the real unemployment rate is much higher,
adding to that the number of people who are considered to be employed, they are
no different than the unemployed, except for the fact that they leave their
homes every day under the guise of jobs, the purpose of which is to make money
for their employers.
The main cause behind these
issues is the Jordanian governments, as they left everything to collapse,
overwhelming the private sector with taxation, fees and bills, which made it
difficult for the private sector to create job opportunities. This is in
addition to the government’s many appointments on the basis of nepotism and
favoritism, which depleted the Treasury, and drove it into borrowing, and then
splitting the debt bill between the unemployed or those who work low-paying
jobs.
Before we condemn the widespread
bribery, corruption, theft, crime, violence, public anger, extremism,
expressing opinions violently, and in some cases turning to terrorism, the
collapse of the marriage institutions, high divorce rates, and drugs, we need
to ask ourselves, what caused society to shift that steeply?
The cause is the general sentiment of absence of justice and prospects,
and the ongoing depletion of people’s lives with promises, rescheduling crises,
and leaving all to their fate.
If we were a different country,
then all government institutions would have mobilized to tackle this rate. We don not need the World Bank
to diagnose the crisis, we are aware of it and see it everywhere, and inaccurate
government numbers, putting the unemployment rate at 25 percent, an already
dangerous and sensitive figure, fail hide it.
Hunger is dangerous, and the lack of hope is even more dangerous, they result in a Jordan that we will not recognize, nor it will
recognize us, where poverty and deprivation are prominent, and those who are
accountable resort to silence, unable to ease the citizens’ pains.
If we were a
different country, we would have declared a national emergency to save our
human resource reserve, first and foremost.
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