Jordan’s National Employment Strategy 2011-2020.

This National Employment Strategy (NES) is a nationwide sectoral document developed to identify and prioritize the areas where intervention would have the greatest impact in rectifying unemployment anomalies and enhancing employability. Three conditions need to be met for the NES to be effective (1) given the multiplicity of input factors that affect employment, such as social norms, education, and working conditions, as well as the various players, including labor and professional associations, business owners and their associations, and the government, the Strategy development required an extensive dialogue and consensus building between the different stakeholders; (2) considering Jordan’s limited resources and the pressing nature of the unemployment problem, the NES requires to focus on practical solutions with quantifiable performance indicators as well as mechanisms for assessment and corrective action where needed; and (3) the NES has to ensure sustainability through an institutional framework to coordinate policies and programs, and to hold stakeholders and governments accountable for the implementation of its strategy and action plan.
The current Vision of the Kingdom of Jordan is that of a globalized and competitive economy, a vibrant private sector, a qualified and productive labor force, efficient public organizations, and a continued adherence to the principles of international human rights standards. Through this Vision, the Kingdom will improve the standards of living for Jordanians by increasing employment, wages, benefits, and productivity improvements. The NES uses an integrative approach that examines investment policies, fiscal and monetary policies, education and higher education, vocational training, and social welfare, all through the lens of employment, the issue of employment is thus tackled across the various themes of the National Agenda. On the demand side, the strategic goal is (i) to enable the private sector to move up the value chain and increase value-added; (ii) to improve its productivity; and (iii) to expand its ability to export products and services. On the supply side, the goal is to graduate a skilled and motivated labor force armed with employable skills and technical know-how as demanded by the labor market. Finally, the institutional framework goals are (i) to enhance the ability of the government to carry out strategic planning policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation, development of labor market information systems, and institutionalized dialogue with social partners; and (ii) to establish a level playing field of social protection and access to health insurance, independent of whether workers are in the public or private sector, and regardless of the size of the enterprise. These demand, supply, and institutional goals are spelled out into intermediate goals and specific program objectives, which in turn are translated into actions.
While all proposed actions represent important pieces of the overall strategy, they are not all of the same importance in terms of impact. The Strategy envisages (i) short-term actions aimed at creating employment to absorb a substantial proportion of the currently unemployed by 2014; (ii) actions aimed at better matching educational outcomes with demand as well as removing the credit constraint to SMEs and micro enterprises should start taking effect in terms of growth and higher employment rates, especially among females by 2017; and (iii) by 2020, the incentives to restructure the economy towards a knowledge-based economy should start to show results in terms of higher demand for an educated and skilled Jordanian labor force.