One of the anomalies
in the labor market in Jordan, where women are more educated than men, is it
has the third lowest women labor participation rates (ranked 179 out of 182) in
the world. While the reasons are many (transport, culture, public sector
employment opportunities, among others) there remains an important observation
that has not received much attention from the reformers: why do women
unemployment rates rise in good economic times relative to those of men, and
fall in bad times?
اضافة اعلان
Women unemployment rate during 1991-2002 averaged
24.8 percent, while total unemployment stood at 15.7 percent; thus, the
difference was 9.1 percent. During 2003-2008 (the golden economic years), the
difference was 9.7 percent. In other words, the excellent economic growth rates
favored the employment of men, rather than women. After the economy started to
slip into a downward spiral in 2009, the difference during 2009-2014 between
the national unemployment rate and women unemployment rate became 8.8 percent.
As the economic situation worsened, during
2015-2021, the difference between the two rates decreased further. In summary,
the worsened state of the economy favored hiring women, not men, and years of
economic bliss favored hiring men.
These figures should not be taken to mean that
economic growth in Jordan led to better employment rates for women; the best
average unemployment rate for women was 21.3 percent, during 2009-2014. The
worst (24.9 percent) was during 2015-2021. Overall, the average unemployment
rate for women has been rising and is much higher than that of men.
To explain the observations, some would claim that
the rising unemployment rate among women (and men, but they are not the focus
of this writing) has been due to improvements in the productivity of labor
(real output per labor hour): as workers produce more on average per hour,
businesses demand fewer and fewer labor hours.
Given the apparent gender disparity in compensation between women and men, particularly in the private sector, one could surmise that businesses tend to hire more women than men in bad times because they can pay them less than men, and thus reduce the wage bill.
According to serious economic research by Jane
Hartigan and Hamed El-Said, among others, there was no discernible increase in
the productivity of labor since the start of the economic reform carried out
under the auspices of the IMF and World Bank in the early 1990s. Economic
growth has been the result of greater accumulation of inputs (capital and
labor), not the result of improved labor productivity.
Such a view has also been confirmed by the World
Bank’s own research, which stated: “ …most of the economic growth in the 1990s
could be accounted for by the expansion of capital (both physical and human)
and the labor force. … Evidence for the second half of the 1990s pointed to
unchanged TFP, which called into question the competitiveness of the Jordanian
economy”.
Given the apparent gender disparity in compensation
between women and men, particularly in the private sector, one could surmise
that businesses tend to hire more women than men in bad times because they can
pay them less than men, and thus reduce the wage bill. When the good times
roll, they hire more men than women, possibly because they believe that men are
more productive, do not require maternity leaves, day-care centers, day-light
work hours, etc.
Another possible explanation is that in the bad
times, more men than women may be attracted to work in the informal sector.
According to the International Labor Organization, globally, the informal
sector is a greater source of employment for men (63 percent) than for women
(58.1 percent). This may also help explain, even if partially, such an anomaly.
Clearly, reforms, including those carried out via
the IMF, have not addressed the gender discrepancies in the labor market so
far. Yet this phenomenon needs to be urgently addressed.
If it is a matter of educating the private sector,
then both government and donor programs should address this via, among other
things, national and targeted campaigns.
If it is a question of policy, procedures, or institutions, then focused
and targeted reform should be carried out urgently.
Yusuf Mansur is CEO of
the Envision Consulting Group and former minister of state for economic
affairs.
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