Jordanians have been protesting against high taxes and the increase in commodity prices since Wednesday, and it’s all for good reason.

A new report by the Department of Statistics revealed that the unemployment rate in Jordan reached 18.4% in the first quarter of 2018; that’s a 0.2% increase from the same period last year.

The unemployment rate for males during the first quarter of 2018 registered at 16.0%, compared to 27.8% for females.

Statistics have also shown that the unemployment rate was high amongst university graduates, standing at 24.1% when compared to other educational levels.

Meanwhile, 54.6% of the total unemployed were high school and university graduates, while 45.4% of the total unemployed did not go beyond secondary school education.

At the Governorate level, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in Ma'an at 21.9%, and the lowest rate was recorded in Karak at 15.9%.

As for those who do have jobs, the report showed that 29.8% of the total working population is aged 15 years and over, with 59.7% of those male employees and 63.9% of those female employees being aged between 20-39 years.

Half of those employed did not have qualifications higher than secondary school level, while 9.5% were high school diploma holders, and 38.7% of them were university graduates.