According to a report issued on Monday, March 4, 2019, by the Sisterhood in Global Institute-Jordan (SIGI), one out of every three persons working in Jordan is non-Jordanian, while the number of non-Jordanian workers exceeding 15 years old reached 857,938 individual, representing 45.1%.

The report added that about 113,026 non-Jordanian females and males over the age of 15 are unemployed, representing 5.9% of the total number of non-Jordanians, and 11.6% of the total number of those economically active.

Non-Jordanian population comes from 139 countries, including all Arab countries; However, the majority of them hold nationalities from four popular Arab countries and from 10 popular foreign countries.

A second report issued by Sigi-Jordan indicated that 84.8% of females in Jordan are economically inactive.

The report said that the decrease in unemployment rates among females, along with the decline in labor force rates reflects a significant imbalance in economic policies.

Despite the fact that unemployment rates have witnessed a significant increase by 18.7% during the fourth quarter of 2018, unemployment rates among females declined by 1.8%, reaching 25.7%, when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017.

On the other hand, unemployment rates among males have increased by 0.8%, reaching 16.9%, according to the Fourth Quarter of 2018 report issued by the Department of Statistics (DoS).

Unemployment rates among females are witnessing a continuous decline, as they dropped by 7.3% in the past two years, SIGI report added.

While female unemployment rates reached 33% in the first quarter of 2017, the percentage of the female labor force in Jordan declined by 3.1% during the past two years, constituting 15.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to 18.3% in the first quarter of 2017.

Figures confirm that there must be a link between the decrease in unemployment rates among females and the drop in the labor force among them.

The report explained that the increase in the number of economically inactive women (women who do not work, do not look for jobs, are unable to work or are not available for work) has in one way or another lowered unemployment rates among economically active women (women who work or seek employment).

A third report mentioned that 78.8% of the jobs created recently in Jordan were for single males and females, according to the Fourth Quarter of 2018 report issued by the DoS.

The report noted that only 8.5% of these jobs went to married people, 1% went to divorced people, and 0.8% went to both separated and widowed individuals.

In terms of age, 66.9% of the jobs went to people between 20 to 29 years of age, while 15.6% went to individuals between 15 to 19 years of age.

The main reason why males and females lost about 486 jobs was, in the first place, due to work conditions, with 29.8% rate, followed by economic reasons with 18.9%, and retirement with 18.2%, reasons related to work incentives with 7.2%, and marriage with 1.3%.

Sigi-Jordan is a non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1998. It aims at increasing advocacy for women’s rights and enabling women to enjoy, defend and protect these rights and ensure their recognition, according to Sigi-Jordan's official website.

SIGI’s Vision for women and girls to be empowered, and to be equal participants in achieving sustained, inclusive and sustainable development at all levels, and in building democratic societies governed by dignity, freedom, social justice, equal opportunities and respect for diversity in a state of rights, freedoms, and citizenship.