Irbid Governor, Radwan Al Otoum, told Roya that an oversight committee monitoring working children in Irbid aimed to curb child labour in the northern governorate.

The committee carries out visits in an almost weekly basis with hopes to completely eradicate the phenomenon.
The Inspection Department at Irbid Labor Directorate has four inspectors in addition to the head of the department who inspect the local market on a daily basis and issue fines to employers who do not comply with regulations.

Jordanian Labour Law prohibits the employment of juveniles under the age of 16 and stipulates that only adults can work more than 36 hours per week or in dangerous, exhausting or harmful jobs.

If an employer violates any of the articles related to juvenile employment the penalty lies between JD 300-500 and is doubled when repeating the offense.

In reality, practice overrides policy as shown by statistics in recent years.

In 2016, The National Child Labour Survey indicated there were more than 76 thousand out of the approximately 4 million children residing in Jordan who were engaged in economic activities. Only 8.3 percent (6,321) of those adhered to the law.

In addition to the 24, 744 who were too young to be employed, 12,600 below the age of 16 worked in hazardous occupations and 8,546 worked more than 36h per week.

The number of juveniles otherwise permitted to work who were exploited in hazardous workplaces was 11,604 and those who worked more than the permitted hours stood at 12,167, according to the survey.

A position paper released by Jordan Labour Watch in 2017, points out that factors that contribute to the increase of child labour include the decline in living standards and the increase in poverty in Jordan, in addition to the influx of refugees and the increased dropout rate for students in primary level.