Youth and women are essential to unlocking Jordan's labour market potential, illustrated by a photo of people, many of whom are young people and women, at sunset by the Amman citadel. Photo by flavijus / iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images.
Breaking barriers: Making Jordan’s labour market work for women and youth
Jordan’s Economic Modernisation Vision lays out clear targets: doubling female labour force participation and creating over one million jobs for Jordanian youth by 2033. However, the roadmap to achieving these goals remains a puzzle – what policies will drive real change, and how can they be implemented effectively?
Jordan struggles to integrate women and youth into its labour market. Female labour force participation (FLFP) in Jordan is the fourth lowest in the world, and 45% of 15-24-year-olds are unemployed.
The Government of Jordan (GoJ) is acutely aware of the issue and has set bold targets to fix it in its Economic Modernisation Vision: double female labour force participation from 14% to 28% and integrate over one million young Jordanians into the workforce by 2033.
Although ambitious, these goals are also realistic and achievable: neighbouring Saudi Arabia nearly doubled FLFP in a decade from similar levels.
Addressing Jordan’s twin labour market challenge
To help address this puzzle, while also recognising the need for local, data-driven policy solutions, IGC Jordan is actively working with GoJ to generate research that can inform reforms.
The 2025 Labour Market Symposium, held in Amman in February, served as a key platform to bring together policymakers, researchers, and development partners to set the agenda for labour market policy. Discussions were anchored around insights from "Unlocking the Potential of Jordan’s Labour Market", a newly published policy paper that identifies actionable research and policy priorities to improve employment outcomes for women and youth.
Labour market barriers range from social norms to insufficient available jobs
Social norms play a significant role in female labour market participation in Jordan. While 96% of men support women working in principle, this support falls drastically when faced with specific constraints – only 38% maintain support if this involves working with men, and 26% if it would mean that women return home after 5pm.
According to Alessandra Gonzalez (Duke University), correcting misperceived social norms was central for Saudi Arabia’s achievements, and other experiments that corrected these misperceptions led to more women interviewing and applying for jobs.
Female employment is also skewed towards the public sector – 55% of working women are employed in the public sector, and those in the private sector prefer larger firms. Women value workplace amenities on offer in public and larger private firms, and since these amenities are not available in smaller private firms, female participation in the sector suffers as a result.
Figure 1: Job quality and benefits by gender
Notes: The graph illustrates the share of workers, disaggregated by gender, receiving various job benefits and amenities. Women particularly value these workplace benefits. Source: Jordan Department of Statistics Labour Force Survey (2017–2023), based on 104,046 observations.
Gender segregation is omnipresent, with most private sector opportunities concentrated in male-dominated jobs, and most growth opportunities in male-dominated sectors. Women who work are overwhelmingly in professional services, with teaching being the most common profession among women.
Conversely, more skilled (managers) and faster-growing occupations (agriculture, manufacturing, construction) are predominantly occupied by men. Therefore, for the GoJ to achieve its ambitious goals, it needs to explore how to make these growth opportunities more inclusive for women and young people.
Figure 2: Trends in female workforce participation, by occupation
The graph depicts the share of female workers across various occupations from 2013 to 2023. Over the years, they have overwhelmingly been employed in professional services.Source: Jordan Department of Statistics Labour Force Survey (2017–2023), based on 334,479 observations.
While Jordanian women are highly qualified, many fail to find suitable employment. Over a third of women with tertiary education are unemployed, against only 13% of women with secondary education and below. This highlights a mismatch between supply and demand for skills in the labour market.
Tackling complex problems through targeted interventions
Jordan’s persistently low female labour force participation and high youth unemployment are shaped by a unique mix of cultural, economic, and structural factors.
Acknowledging these complex barriers, academics, policymakers, and stakeholders present at the 2025 Labour Market Symposium highlighted five key priorities as immediate areas for action – the first three of which directly target women and youth:
- Improve the provision of childcare and other workplace amenities to encourage women to enter the labour force, especially into the private sector. Hazim Rahahleh (Arab Centre for Research) observed that women often stay home after maternity leave, and found this to be partly due to the high cost of nurseries.
- Provide safe and efficient transport for women to reach the workplace. Lina Shbeeb (former Minister of Transport) and Reyad Alkharabsheh (Executive Director of Public Transport and Transport Infrastructure) argued that, in Amman, women tend to take taxis instead of buses due to safety and reliability concerns. As Ed Glaeser (Harvard University) highlighted, buses may be an effective policy tool in bringing more women into the labour market.
- Change beliefs and empower women to participate in the labour market. Hedd Megchild (PSD Advisor, FCDO) warns that while Saudi Arabia’s success story can serve as a catalyst for Jordan, evidence should be contextualised regionally and not supplanted from one successful context to another hopeful country.
Beyond gender-specific challenges, participants highlighted the need for targeting broader labour market inefficiencies:
- Improve job search to better match labour supply and demand. Maha Ali (Secretary General of Jordanian National Commission for Women) and Ghaleb Hijazi (Director General, Amman Chamber of Commerce) both highlighted the importance of better understanding private sector demands to match previously excluded jobseekers with hiring firms.
- Promote private sector led job growth to create quality jobs for all. As highlighted by Stefano Caria (University of Warwick), there are simply not enough good jobs in Jordan. Nesreen Barakat (CEO, Jordan Strategy Forum) argues that the attractiveness of the public sector restrains women from applying for private sector jobs, further constraining growth in the country.
Finding policy solutions that work for Jordan’s labour market
Progress towards these goals will come from a combination of targeted policy reforms, sustained economic growth, infrastructure investments, and private sector incentives. But designing these interventions effectively will require more than simply replicating findings from other countries in Jordan.
Instead, it demands rigorous, locally grounded research that captures the realities of Jordan’s labour market and identifies what works for Jordan, in Jordan. Many of these pressing labour market challenges are already being explored through ongoing IGC research in the country, including innovative job-matching solutions, gig economy integration, and freelancing platforms to optimise labour market efficiency. Research also looks at the impact of workplace amenities, transparency in hiring practices, and correcting misperceptions of social norms to raise female workforce participation.
IGC Jordan is ready to play its part, not only as a research institution, but also as a knowledge partner for the Government of Jordan – working to strengthen data-driven decision-making tailored to Jordan’s unique context.