Collective suicide attempt by five ‘unemployed’ people in Jordan

JORDAN— Police on Wednesday dissuaded five people from committing collective suicide by jumping off a building near the Interior Ministry Circle.

According to authorities, the five young people were attempting to commit suicide because they are not employed.

They were taken to police station before being discharged later in the day.

The unemployment in Jordan is an issue of concern among Jordanian youth, and the unemployment rate in the Kingdom stood at 13.6 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2015, according to Department of Statistics (DoS) figures.

The jobless rate among men stood at 11.7 per cent, while it reached 23 per cent among women, according to a DoS report.

Madaba Governorate registered the highest rate of unemployment with 32.2 per cent, while the lowest rate was registered in Amman with 10.1 per cent, the report showed.

DoS said 61.4 per cent of male workers did not complete high school, compared with 12.9 per cent of female employees.

The figures also revealed that women who hold a bachelors degree and above constitute 62.5 per cent of female workers, compared to 20.5 per cent for males.

Meanwhile, most paid workers in Jordan work under “unfair and inappropriate” conditions, said a report issued to mark Labor Day, annually observed on May 1.

The study, released by the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, said the average salaries of most workers are low, estimated at JD468 in 2014 for private and public sectors by the Social Security Corporation.

The average monthly wage in 2014 for public sector employees was JD435, and JD474 for those working in the private sector.

The report, said these salaries are almost similar to the “official” poverty line of JD450 needed for a family of five to survive.

It added that 18 per cent of workers in Jordan are paid JD200 or less per month, while 57 per cent receive a monthly salary of JD400 or less and 75.6 per cent receive JD500 or less.

The minimum wage in the Kingdom is JD190, which, the report said, is less than half of the poverty threshold for a family of five.