2 CONTEXT ANALYSIS 2.4 LABOUR CONTEXT

The unemployment rate in the Southern Jordan Valley reached (14.2%) at the end of 2014, which is higher than the overall rate in Jordan (11.5%). The highest unemployment rates recorded were in the Southern Jordan Valley (As-Safi and Al-Mazra’a Districts) at (19.2%), which is higher than the overall unemployment rate in Al-Karak Governorate, which is (15.1%). [1]

As for income, in the Ghor As-Safi district, the average annual income of families reached (2316 JDs), almost half the annual income of families in AlKarak governorate (5319 JDs). [2]

Despite several voluntary efforts to reduce the phenomenon of poverty, no one could point out the real cause of poverty in a community that lives in a productive agricultural area, poverty is surely linked to unemployment, however, one can deduce that poverty in Ghor As-Safi was not just the result of poor living conditions only, but rather the result of agricultural and economic restrictions imposed on farmers, who represent approximately 50% of the workforce in the district. [1]

Residents were exposed to injustice and persecution throughout historical eras, which led them to relinquish their lands to powerful individuals and forced them to start working for pay on what was once theirs. [3]

The people of the Southern Jordan Valley called for creating a comprehensive national strategic plan to compensate poverty and unemployment, and to establish development projects aimed at creating job opportunities, supporting training and employment programs, and giving priority to hiring the people of the region in companies and factories.

[1] Community Rehabilitation Centre in Al-Karak Survey, 2019.

[2] https://alrai.com/article/174424/

[3] https://www.addustour.com/articles/164619