Ammon News - The rate of Jordanian women’s economic participation stood at 14.2 per cent in 2020, according to the Department of Statistics (DoS).

One in seven women were economically active in 2020, compared with one in 1.9 men in the age group of 15 and above, the department said in a statement released on the occasion of Labour Day.

The DoS indicated that the revised economic participation rate for women is the number of economically active women aged 15 years and above divided by the number of women aged 15 years and above.

According to the DoS figures, the number of insured workers with the Social Security Corporation increased significantly from 366,000 in 2000 to about 1,345188 in 2019, while the monthly wage rate rose from JD60 in the mid-1970s to JD211 in the mid-1990s and JD524 in 2018.

The DoS also stated that despite the gains achieved in the employment scene, the country still faces many challenges in the labour market, the most important of which is “the competition from migrant workers, whose number have grown considerably”.

The presence of large number of migrant workers has denied Jordanian workers access to employment opportunities in various economic sectors, where unemployment levels have remained almost constant, the department said.

Ahmad Awad, managing director of the Phenix Centre for Economics and Informatics Studies said: “I believe that for the past 30 years, the rate of Jordanian women’s economic participation has remained almost constant, which means that all the strategies and plans were not effective.”

Awad also noted that improving working conditions will enhance and encourage women’s economic participation in Jordan.

“I also believe that education plays a major role, especially that a lot of youth register in universities without being fully aware of the major’s opportunities in Jordan which I believe has created more unemployment,” he added.