JORDAN— The Kingdom has announced a plan to employ Syrian refugees as part of plan submitted in the London Conference that took place last week.
The government announced that donor countries pledged during the London conference hundreds of millions of dollars to help Jordan cope with the Syrian refugee crisis in the form of grants and cheap loans, while the Kingdom pledged to integrate Syrians in the labor market.
In a meeting with law makers, Nidal Katamine, Minister of Labor stressed that integrating Syrians in the job market will not affect the employment and job opportunities available for Jordanians.
Sources at the ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity also said there will be inspection campaigns that seek to “deport” foreigners who work without permits and replace them with Syrians who are already in the country.
In addition, the ministry will facilitate issuing work permits for Syrians and will request Syrians who work without permits to rectify their position.
The sources added that there is more than 150,000 Syrians who work without permits in Jordan, compared to up to 5,000 who have permits.
Meanwhile, in a recent press conference, Katamine stressed that jobs that will be open for Syrians are the ones that are already open for foreigners.
In a recent conference, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour Sending a message of assurances to the Jordanian public regarding Syrians’ access to the labor market, read out a paragraph of the “Jordan Compact”, the final statement issued by the Kingdom following the London donor conference. It outlined Jordan’s “holistic approach” to the refugee crisis and listed pledges made by donors to the Kingdom.
“Cumulatively, these measures could in the coming years provide 200,000 job opportunities for Syrian refugees while they remain in the country, contributing to the Jordanian economy without competing with Jordanians for jobs,” the document said.
Katamine explained that 18 “closed professions” will remain exclusive to Jordanians. He named engineering, medical, education, administrative and accounting jobs as examples.
Katamine reasserted that competition for jobs will be between Syrians and guest workers from various nationalities, adding that the government agreed with the private sector to integrate Syrians within the ratios of guest workers allocated for private businesses.
He said creating new jobs would be through new investments with priority given for Jordanians and then for Syrian workers.
Making Syrian labour in the Kingdom more efficient would be through attracting investments to five development zones: Irbid, Karak, Muwaqqar, Maan and Mafraq, he noted.
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