Male unemployment rate drops by 0.8 percentage points in Jordan
The labor market showed mixed performance in the second quarter of 2025, with a notable decline in the unemployment rate among males, while female unemployment edged higher, according to the latest quarterly labor force report issued by the Department of Statistics, Petra reports.
The report revealed that the national unemployment rate stood at 21.3% in Q2 2025, down 0.1 percentage points from the 21.4% recorded during the same period last year. Among men, unemployment fell more sharply, registering 18.1%, a 0.8-point year-on-year decline, and a 0.5-point drop compared to Q1 2025.
Over the medium term, the labor market has shown gradual improvement, with overall unemployment declining by 1.3 points since Q2 2022.
Conversely, female unemployment rose to 32.8% in Q2 2025, up 1.8 points from the same quarter in 2024 and 1.6 points higher than Q1 2025. This uptick underscores ongoing structural challenges in female labor market participation, despite incremental improvements in women’s economic engagement.
The report highlighted that 60.5% of unemployed individuals possess a high school education or higher, while 39.4% have qualifications below secondary education.
Employment demographics show that the prime working-age population (20–39 years) accounts for a majority of the workforce: 58.4% of employed men and 59.2% of employed women fall within this age bracket.
Educational attainment among the workforce remains polarized, with 42.3% holding credentials beyond secondary school, 9.6% holding a secondary-level qualification, and 47.6% having less than secondary education.
Geographically, unemployment disparities persist. Ma’an recorded the highest unemployment rate at 33.9%, while Aqaba registered the lowest at 15.6%.
In sectoral terms, female representation in government employment stands at 22.3% of the total public-sector workforce, reflecting both demand-side opportunities and supply-side qualifications. Additionally, 74.6% of women in the labor force hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 27.3% among men, signaling an education-employment mismatch in the private sector.
The revised labor force participation rate edged down to 33.5% in Q2 2025, from 33.9% a year earlier. Male participation slipped to 52.3% from 53.6%, while female participation rose modestly to 14.6%, up 0.7 points year-on-year. Despite this increase, female participation remains below the Arab world average of 18.1%, highlighting persistent gender gaps in labor market engagement.
The share of foreign labor in the workforce also declined, falling to 44.5% of total employment in Q2 2025, down 0.7 points from 45.2% in Q2 2024 a shift that reflects ongoing localization efforts in key industries.
The labor force survey covered 16,560 households across all governorates, representing both urban and rural areas. Data collection, conducted mid-quarter, reflects employment and unemployment dynamics over the full quarter (April, May, and June). Respondents were assessed based on active job-seeking within the four weeks preceding the survey, in line with international labor market standards adopted by Jordan.
As reported previously, Standard & Poor’s affirms Jordan’s credit rating at BB-.