34 thousand jobs the net increase in employment in 2007

H.E. the Minister of Planning & International Cooperation Suher Al-Ali and H.E. the Director General of the Department of Statistics, Dr. Gazi Shbaikat held a press conference on Tuesday, 10 June 2008 for announcing the preliminary results of the Job Creation Survey 2007.

The survey covered the new jobs created in the Jordanian labour market and those lost during 1/7/-31/12/2008.

Following are the main results of the survey:

*Job creation doubled in 2007 as compared to 2006. The net jobs created in 2007 were (about 70 thousands) against (about 35 thousands) jobs in 2006. This explains the decrease of unemployment rate in 2007 to 13% against 14% in 2006.

* 34 thousand (net) jobs were created in the second half of 2007, mostly for males. The month of August has registered the highest employment rate, compared with 36 thousand opportunities for the first half.

* More than two thirds of new jobs were created by the private sector (about 24 thousand job opportunities).

* Most of the newly created opportunities were for Jordanians (85%), while the share of the Egyptian labor has declined for the first half of the year (8% to 5%).

* Service sectors create most of the jobs, the government and its services particularly education constitute a larger share, while there was a decline in the public administration sector and civil in comparison with the first half of the year (27% to 12%).  There was a rise in newly created jobs in the trade sector between the two halves of the year (12% to 18%).

* The newly created jobs were concentrated in the occupations of professionals and workers in primary occupations, particularly females, while there was a retreat in job opportunities for professionals, assistant professionals and clerics for the first half (11% to 9%).

* Amman’s population got the highest proportion of employment opportunities and the population of Aqaba got the lowest proportion (1%). There was a retreat in the share of the capital as compared to the first half (45% to 39%).

* As a place of work, the Amman, Irbid and Zarqa got almost (80%) of the newly created jobs, while they held (83%) in the first half of the year.

* The newly crated jobs were concentrated in young age groups (productive groups), especially in the age group 20-29 years, where it has risen compared to the first half (68% to 79%) and retreated to the categories of 50 years and above.

* Most of the newly created jobs go to bachelors (85%).

* Uneducated individuals (below secondary) receive the largest proportion of newly created jobs (42%) compared with (51%) for the first half. There was a rise in net created jobs for the Bachelor degree holders or higher for the first half from (21% to 35%).

* The disciplines of science, mathematics and computer ranked the highest in employment among intermediate diploma holders or higher for males, while the social sciences, business, law and science education for females. As for the secondary certificate holders (Arts stream), it occupied the highest employment rate

* Employment of foreigners was mostly in the household sector who recruit individuals (70% for the second half and 64% for the first half), and for owners of primary occupations with educational attainment less than secondary. There was replacement in favor of the Jordanian labor in the tourism sector.

* The Amman and Aqaba governorates were most pulling for labor, while Irbid is the most labor exporter. Most females get job in the governorates where they reside or the neighboring governorates.

* There was a shift towards the public sector jobs, while the manufacturing industries are most labor - pushing.

* Unfavorable working conditions were the main cause for leaving work especially for males, and retirement is the major reason for leaving work in the public sector.