Informally employed Syrian refugees, working under harsh conditions, further strain Jordanian labour market

Informally employed Syrian refugees, working under harsh conditions, further strain Jordanian labour market

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in neighboring Jordan has increased unemployment in areas in which they are highly concentrated, and further strained the host country’s infrastructure, resources and public services. This has increased competition in some sectors and added to the informality of the labor market, a new joint report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Institute for Applied International Studies (Fafo) finds, writes International Labour Organization.

Syrian workers in Jordan are willing to accept lower wages and harsher working conditions than Jordanians, competing with Jordanians in some sectors and further increasing the informality of the labor market, a new study by the ILO and the Oslo-based Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies has found. The study examines the impact of the Syrian refugee influx on the Jordanian labor market.

This is putting more pressure on Jordanian authorities to enforce existing labor standards such as minimum wage, working hours and safety at work.

The study has found that unemployment among Jordanians in three areas with high concentrations of Syrian refugees – the capital Amman and the northern governorates of Irbid and Mafraq – rose from 14.5 per cent to 22.1 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

The newly published study, conducted by the ILO and the Oslo-based Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies, is based on a survey of approximately 4,000 Jordanian and Syrian households in these three areas, which host three-quarters of the 628,000 refugees registered in Jordan. The Mafraq governorate includes the Zaatari camp, the largest Syrian refugee camp in Jordan.

The study, entitled Impact of Syrian Refugees on the Jordanian Labour Market, was conducted in collaboration with the Jordanian Department of Statistics (DOS). It provides a better understanding of the employment profile of Syrian refugees in Jordan, and recommends strategies to address challenges facing the refugees and Jordanian host communities in their search for employment and livelihood.

“This study is part of our efforts in the ILO to alleviate some of the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan,” said Frank Hagemann, the ILO’s Regional Director for Arab States ad interim.

“It will enable us to better understand and help resolve the very real problems facing the labor market in Jordan for both Syrian refugees and Jordanian host communities.”

The study looks at the situation of refugees working in both Jordanian host communities and inside refugee camps. It found that almost all of them do not have work permits, and are therefore employed in the informal economy and outside the bounds of Jordanian labor law.

Refugees paid less, work more

Although informally employed Jordanian workers face many of the same challenges as informally employed Syrian workers, findings show that Syrian workers are generally paid less: 15 per cent of Jordanians made less than 200 Jordanian dinars (about $US 282) a month, while as many as 44 per cent of Syrian refugees working outside camps made less 200 Jordanian dinars a month. The Refugees also have to work longer hours: about 30 per cent of Syrian refugees worked more than 60 hours a week, with 16 per cent working 80 hours or more. Syrians who do possess contracts generally have less satisfactory contracts compared to Jordanians in the same sector.

The majority of Syrian refugees who have obtained work in Jordan appear to occupy primarily low-skilled and low-wage jobs that emerged during their arrival. Some refugees took on jobs that already existed prior to their arrival, increasing competition with Jordanian host-community workers.

One of the main findings relates to a change in industrial occupations amongst Jordanians: 30 per cent of Jordanian workers who were employed in construction and in agriculture just before the crisis erupted in Syria do not work in these industries today. Worthy of note is that these two sectors also include many migrant workers from other nationalities.

A sector which seems to attract both nationalities is the wholesale and retail sector, which, based on those surveyed, employs 23 per cent of Syrian refugees working outside refugee camps and 18 per cent of Jordanians.

Jordanian host community unemployment rate rising

The research found that the unemployment rate amongst Jordanian men and women in host communities in Amman, Irbid and Mafraq increased since 2011 from approximately 30 to 40 per cent amongst women and from approximately 10 to 17 per cent amongst men in 2014.

Members of the international community and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met in Amman to discuss the report’s findings before its launch.

“Key findings and recommendations that need to be urgently considered for humanitarian planning and response are the unemployment rates among youth and low school attendance rates among Syrian children,” said Karen Whiting, Senior Protection Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “We also need to raise more awareness among Syrian refugees about Jordanian labor law, including legal requirements for participating in the labour market,” she added.

Irene Fellmann, Development Counsellor at the German Embassy in Amman, said “the study’s recommendations need to be taken into consideration when examining how better to enable marginalized Jordanians and Syrian refugees to participate in Jordan’s labour market and wider economy.”
At present, about 51 per cent of the Syrian men living outside camps participate in the Jordanian labor market, while as much as 57 per cent are looking for work. This does not apply to Syrian women, of whom only seven per cent of participate in the Jordanian labor market.

This will pose a serious threat to the future of the Jordanian labor market. If humanitarian aid begins to dry up with no sign of a resolution to the conflict in Syria and a return of refugees to their homes, then a greater number of Syrian refugees will need to enter the labor market, the study concluded.
The report in numbers:

• Unemployment amongst Jordanians in areas with high concentrations of Syrian refugees rose from 14.5 per cent to 22.1 per cent between 2011 and 2014.
• The unemployment rate of Jordanians has increased to 40 per cent among women and 17 per cent among men from 2011 to 2014 in the Governorates under study.
• Of the Syrian refugees who are employed, 99 per cent are working informally and outside Jordan’s labor regulation. About 50 per cent of Jordanians work informally.
• 60 per cent of the Syrian refugees above the age of 15 have never completed basic schooling, and only about 15 per cent of the refugees have completed secondary education, compared to 42 per cent of Jordanians above the age of 15.
• More than 40 per cent of working Syrians are employed in the construction industry, followed by 23 per cent in the wholesale and retail trade.
• While only 14 per cent of the surveyed Jordanian workers work 60 hours or more, about 30 per cent of Syrians work 60 hours or more, including 16 per cent who work 80 hours or more.
• As many as 25 per cent of Syrian refugees working outside Za’atri camp, and as many as 61 per cent of Syrian refugees working in Za’atri camp earn well below the 150 Jordanian Dinar (about $US 211) minimum wage per month for non-Jordanians. This is compared to 13 per cent of Jordanians who earn below the national minimum wage of 190 Jordanian Dinar (about $US 268) per month for Jordanian citizens
• In terms of child labor, 1.6 per cent of Jordanian boys and 8 per cent of Syrian boys aged 9 to 15 are economically active. Seventeen per cent of Jordanian boys and 37 per cent of Syrian boys in the older age group of 15 to 18 are economically active.