The Department of Statistics (DoS) released its report on unemployment rates in Jordan for the second quarter of 2021.

According to the report, the unemployment rate in the second quarter reached 24.8 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the first quarter of the same year, and an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the second quarter of 2020.

The unemployment rate for males in the second quarter of 2021 was 22.7 percent compared to 33.1 percent for females.

By comparing the unemployment rate for the second quarter with the first quarter of 2021, it is clear that the unemployment rate for males decreased by 1.5 percentage points, and rose for females by 4.6 percentage points.

The report showed that the results of the unemployment rate were high among university degree holders.

Additionally, the report indicated that 56.7 percent of the unemployed are holders of secondary school certificates or higher.

Meanwhile, 43.3 percent of the unemployed hold educational qualifications below secondary.

The unemployment among males who hold a bachelor's degree or higher reached 31.2 percent, while unemployment among females of the same educational level reached 83.4 percent.

A total rate of 48.5 percent of males and females between the ages of 15-24 are unemployed, according to DoS.

The highest unemployment rate, which reached 28.2 percent, was recorded in the Balqa governorate, whereas Karak recorded the lowest level of unemployment at 15.7 percent.

A rate of 25.3 percent of those aged over 15 in Jordan are employed.

The report showed that half of the employed had educational qualifications below high school, 8.3 percent of high school students, and 41.5 percent above high school.

The results showed a clear inconsistency in the distribution of the labor force according to educational level and gender, as 58.6 percent of the total male labor force held educational level below secondary compared to only 9.5 percent for females.

The results also indicated that 73.8 percent of the total female labor force had a bachelor's degree or higher education level, compared to 26.6 percent among males.

Notably, the survey included a sample of around 16,000 families distributed over all governorates of the Kingdom, and is representative of urban, rural and governorates.