This chapter discusses two additional problems that have been selected in relation to human capital in Jordan: skills mismatch owing to the rigidity of VET provision and content, and underutilisation of human capital and of opportunities for human capital development. These challenges are assessed in greater detail because the ETF believes that they require immediate attention as major human capital-related constraints to growth and at the same time concern policy areas that Jordan has declared to be of strategic importance.
POLICIES FOR HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN JORDAN
An ETF Torino Process assessment
3.1.1 Description of the problem
Data and analysis of the employment prospects of youth in Jordan suggest that education and training, particularly VET, hold out the promise of a quicker transition to employment, a lower likelihood of becoming unemployed or inactive, a higher return on investment in education, and better employment conditions in the case of employment in the private sector (OECD, 2018).
At the same time, the potential of VET to deliver on this positive outlook for graduates is contingent on additional factors, some of which seem to pose a long-standing challenge for Jordanian practitioners and policy-makers alike: the extent to which students are provided with practical experience during their VET studies, the proper and regular involvement of employers, the attraction of a more diverse selection of students in terms of socio-economic background and aptitude, etc.
These challenges are aspects of the same underlying problem with which Jordan (and other countries for that matter) has struggled now for some years. According to the national report, most graduates in Jordan leave education and training without having acquired skills that are in demand in the labour market. This in turn harms their prospects of social and economic participation, limits the growth potential of the Jordanian economy, and hampers the development of the private sector and its capacity to create jobs.
Given the inherent proximity of VET to the world of work, the problem of skills mismatch is particularly obvious in this segment of the education and training system. In Jordan and elsewhere, vocational degrees are expected to supply the largest, most diverse array of occupations in the labour market, including occupations in the sectors of sales and service, administration (clerks), agriculture and fishery, crafts, industry, and more (Table 3, Rows 2 and 3).
Table 3. ISCO and occupation groups, and levels of education and skills
Row No. |
ISCO major group |
Broad occupation group |
Education level |
Skill level |
1 |
Managers |
3+4 |
||
Professionals |
High-skilled non-manual |
Tertiary |
||
Technicians & associate professionals |
||||
2 |
Clerical support workers |
Low-skilled non-manual |
Lower, upper, post-secondary |
2 |
Service & sales workers |
||||
3 |
Skilled agricultural & fishery workers |
|||
Craft & related trades workers |
Skilled manual |
|||
Plant & machine operators & assemblers |
||||
4 |
Elementary occupations |
Unskilled |
Primary |
1 |
Source: ILO, 2012
The transition of VET graduates into jobs in these occupational groups is faster and perhaps easier than the transition to employment for higher education graduates and youth without qualifications, as the national report and other sources suggest[35] NRF B.1.5, NRD D.3.1.2. See also OECD, 2018
. However, employment in these occupational groups also exhibits the greatest degree of disconnect between job requirements and the qualifications of job-takers (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Share of overeducated and undereducated youth in Jordan by major occupational category (ISCO-08)
Source: Barcucci & Mryyan, 2014; ILO, 2015; OECD, 2018
While jobs requiring a higher level of skills are least affected by such discrepancies, jobs requiring vocational qualifications (especially jobs in the service sector) have the highest proportion of underqualified candidates, followed by crafts and related trades, and administrative workers (clerks). Figure 3 also suggests that a sizeable share of employers in need of workers with such qualifications may be compensating for the gap by hiring overqualified candidates.
Jordan's National Human Resource Development Strategy refers to this phenomenon as a 'fundamental mismatch between the skills required for 21st century employment and the outputs from … TVET…'. The national report even suggests that TVET is among the main reasons for the mismatch because of the content and provision of its programmes, which are outdated, impractical and unresponsive to the needs of Jordanian employers[36] NRF B.1.2
.
These and other problems related to the relevance of VET may not be the only explanation for the inadequate supply of skills for the labour market, but they seem to play an important role in perpetuating the problem by lowering the quality of human capital available to financially important sectors of the Jordanian economy.
The national report provides a lengthy list of possible reasons for the unsatisfactory performance of VET in addressing labour market demand. They include the absence of reliable data on labour market developments; weak involvement of employers at key planning stages of education and training, such as the design of education and training content, the provision of education and training, the assessment of learning outcomes, etc.; inadequate teacher training; and insufficient work-based learning, among other reasons[37] NRF B.1.2, NRF B.1.7
.
Apparently, a major reason for the limited labour market relevance of VET outcomes is the rigidity of VET in terms of content and provision. The service sector, for instance, accounts for over 80% of all jobs in the country (81.9% in 2019) (ETF, 2020b) and has contributed over 60% to the GDP of Jordan for years now (Figure 4). Despite the significance of the sector for the economy and the labour market, however, education and training, together with the pathways for transition to employment, still fail to adjust to the sector's needs for human capital. As Figure 3 suggests, the share of undereducated job-holders is highest in the service sector.
Figure 4. Economic sectors in Jordan by value added to GDP (2014–2018)
Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) database
The challenge of outdated and unchanging content can be traced back to several policy shortcomings, which include the lack of proper information and communication to the VET system about labour market needs, the limited capacity of VET providers and other VET entities to use information about such needs, and the fragmentation of responsibility for shaping and updating the content of VET curricula. In the latter case, there are at least three parallel systems in charge of VET content and provision: one is managed by the MoE, one is managed by the VET Council, and one lies in the domain of on-the-job training. The newly created TVSD Commission is expected to act as an umbrella institution and a remedy to fragmentation, but it is too early to judge its effectiveness in this regard.
As part of the EU programme Skills for Employment and Social Inclusion, all VET providers (the MoE, VTC and private providers) had to register their qualifications, while the Centre for Accreditation and Quality Assurance (CAQA) was entrusted with checking the curricula and content. CAQA had an opportunity to compare the courses provided by different providers and recommend some adjustments to the curricula. The EU programme also provided support so that trainers from the MoE, VTC and Balqa Applied University (BAU) were given an opportunity to be seconded for a month to jobs in industry. Nevertheless, implementation of the updated curricula remains a challenge, mainly because of the continuing need for new equipment and for sufficient capacity to retrain all teachers and trainers.
The difficulty of modernising VET content also limits the effectiveness of in-service teacher training, because the rigid curricula fail to accommodate the innovations taught in the training, which in turn reinforces their irrelevance to labour market needs.
3.1.2 Policy responses and gaps
The authorities are well aware of these challenges and have designed several series of measures to address them: boosting the availability of evidence on labour market needs for the purpose of VET planning and programme update, introducing an education sector-wide framework of qualifications, promoting partnerships with the private sector, and making efforts to introduce entrepreneurial learning in TVET to improve its labour market relevance. These measures and their impact are discussed in more detail in the following sections.
VET relevance through information-sharing and the use of labour market evidence
The development of education and training databases and labour market information systems (LMISs) is among the most prominent policy responses to the challenge of VET's limited labour market relevance in Jordan[38] NRF B.1.5
. The intention is to use evidence obtained from the systems for VET planning purposes, which will include changes to the choice of VET programmes on offer, career guidance within the programmes, and the programmes' enrolment targets and content.
One such activity is the information system developed in the framework of the Al-Manar project of the National Centre for Human Resources Development (NCHRD)[39] http://www.almanar.jo/en/home-page
, which seeks to facilitate informed decisions by education and labour market decision-makers and stakeholders. The Al-Manar database has both an education section that contains information about students and graduates of education institutions in Jordan, including TVET providers, and a labour force section that contains data about the employed, the unemployed and foreign workers who hold a work permit[40] NRF B.1.3
.
The Ministry of Labour (MoL) has its own public platform with information about labour market needs and jobseekers, which can be used for analysis and planning purposes. The platform, which is called the National Electronic Employment System (NEES), gives enterprises an opportunity to register their vacancies online; indicate their requirements of prospective candidates, such as minimum qualifications and work experience; and describe what they offer in terms of wages and other benefits. The labour market information provided by the system is also accessible to jobseekers, who can register online as unemployed and provide information about themselves[41] Ibid.
.
There is also ad-hoc collection and dissemination of evidence about labour market needs, such as NCHRD surveys of sectors and VET providers on behalf of the MoL. From 2013 until the time of the national report's preparation, there were 18 such surveys. In addition, some of the major VET providers, and occasionally the Ministry of Education too, collect evidence through tracer studies, which include feedback from employers and graduates about the skills needed and supplied[42] NRF B.1.7
.
The challenge posed by these evidence collection efforts is that their results do not coincide. As a result, the messages they send to policy-makers and VET providers may diverge as well. While the NEES and NCHRD studies have some degree of alignment, the Al-Manar database delivers findings that diverge from the other two sources.
Jordan has also introduced governance solutions to promote the use of labour market evidence for VET planning. With donor support, the authorities have started establishing sector skills councils (SSCs) as national consultative bodies that represent employers, employees and the government and are charged with the identification of priority skills and training needs in different sectors. The stated purpose of the SSC initiative is to improve the relevance of TVET programmes and the effectiveness of their provision.
According to the national report, however, the results of such evidence collection efforts are not yet particularly effective in informing improvement in VET policy and programme content. For example, the available mechanisms for identifying and anticipating labour market needs are still largely disconnected from the education and training sector, because there are no clear procedures or mechanisms to initiate change on the basis of such labour market insights. At the time of this assessment, there was no evidence that training providers, community colleges or VET schools had managed to adapt their curricula or provision on the basis of such evidence[43] Ibid.
.
In addition, labour market evidence is of limited use in raising the relevance of VET in Jordan, because the process of updating VET training programmes and making their provision more flexible appears to be slow, loosely coordinated, and too burdensome to allow for a quick enough response to external demand. In part, this is due to the fragmentation of TVET providers and the TVET system more broadly. The sector is characterised by the presence of subsectors (vocational education, vocational training and technical education), each with its own bureaucratic system that seldom works together with the systems of the other subsectors (ETF, 2018). Policy-setting (including on VET content) was divided between the now defunct E-TVET Council, the Education Council and the Higher Education Council. This division hindered effective, swift decision-making and coordination at both central and middle levels of VET sector governance (ETF, 2017). As the current National Employment Strategy notes, 'the challenge is not so much the diversity of the providers, but rather the poor state of governance of the sector'[44] National Employment Strategy 2016–2025 and NRF E.1.1
.
In EU countries there is a decades-long consensus that the main features of responsive and flexible VET programmes are their close links to employment, curriculum design that is the result of a continuous process informed by these links, and modular provision of programme content (ILO, 1999).
In Jordan, however, this flexibility and responsiveness are affected by the number of bodies and institutions that are involved in VET steering and content design. They include the recently established Technical and Vocational Skills Development Commission (TVSD Commission) and the council of the TVSD Commission headed by the Minister for Labour, which are responsible for the approval of occupational standards and the coordination of decisions on VET content with other education, economic, social and human resources councils in Jordan. At the time of collecting evidence for this assessment, Jordan also had multiple VET provider and programme accreditation systems: the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions (AQACHEI), the CAQA[45] The functions of CAQA have subsequently been integrated into the TVSD Commission and CAQA itself has been disbanded.
for vocational training, and the MoE for vocational education. These systems fall under the responsibility of different bodies and institutions.
The curricula, learning materials and occupational level tests for training programmes are developed by the Curricula and Testing Directorate (CTD) of the Vocational Training Corporation (VTC)[46] NRF A.2.2
. Overall, the curricula in most TVET institutions are designed and updated centrally with limited autonomy at regional and provider levels[47] NRF C.1.5.2
. The responsibility for programme updates is distributed among various bodies and departments, which may lead to a slowdown in the process. The national report notes that the development of curricula and learning materials for programmes that do not fall under the responsibility of the VTC has recently been moved to the National Centre for Curricula Development. The developed curricula and learning materials still need to be approved by the education council in the MoE before they can be applied in vocational schools[48] NRF A.2.2
.
The allocation of staff (technical and administrative), equipment and funding for the implementation of updated VET programmes then requires an additional round of decisions and approvals by the central authorities. Also, the national report provides no evidence that any of the VET programmes, either updated or old, has been modularised to make it more responsive to the needs and requirements of learners and external stakeholders[49] The only exception is the GIZ project 'Training for water and energy efficiency development [TWEED]', which included an activity to develop didactic modules for the training of vocational trainers (NRF D.1.3.1).
.
Relevance through a sector-wide framework of national qualifications
Jordan has recently taken steps to create a National Qualifications Framework for the entire education system. The new ten-level NQF, which replaces the Technical and Vocational Qualifications Framework, was designed by the AQACHEI at the request of the Government and received approval in 2019[50] Law No. 19 of 2019
.
An important purpose of the new NQF is to support flexible pathways through the education and training system in order to create more educational opportunities and enhance the labour market relevance of learning outcomes[51] NRF B.1.7
. According to the national report, the ambition is to provide access to different levels of qualifications in order to promote the vertical and horizontal mobility of students and their employability[52] NRF B.1.5
. The introduction of the NQF is also expected to motivate and enable training providers to revise and upgrade their training programmes for better quality and relevance, and to meet the qualifications descriptors.[53] NRF A.2.1
The introduction of a system-wide NQF seems long overdue and is relevant to the problem at hand. However, it may be too early to comment on its effectiveness as a policy intervention. The new NQF project is only at the stage of finalising concepts and setting up the infrastructure needed for proper implementation. The horizontal and vertical mobility between educational pathways is still highly restricted, with only a fraction of secondary VET students able to complement their educational and training career by transitioning to another, higher level of education (ETF, 2018).
Here too, fragmentation remains a major challenge. Jordan is still struggling to make the transition to a sector-wide quality assurance and accreditation system that will replace the current three subsystems[54] See https://www.etf.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/torino-process-2014-jordan
and ensure the flexibility and adequate responsiveness of education and training to external demand. In addition, the sector skills councils that are set to play a key role in the design of qualifications are still in the initial stages of establishment. Their effectiveness will depend largely on the ability of Jordanian authorities and stakeholders to resolve the long-standing challenge of proper, timely involvement of private-sector representatives in VET planning and steering, as the next section on the promotion of private-sector partnerships discusses.
Promotion of partnerships with the private sector
The involvement of private-sector employers in TVET governance and planning is a major priority in all national strategies that prioritise human capital development, such as the National Employment Strategy (2011–2020), the E-TVET Strategy (2014–2020), and the National Human Resources Development Strategy (2016–2025). One of the purposes of committing so prominently to the intensification of private-sector participation is to transform VET into a system that brings about relevant deliverables to address the demand for skills among employers[55] NRF B.1.5
.
According to the 2019 Law on Technical and Vocational Skills Development (TVSD Law), there are two main channels to promote employer involvement in VET. One is the participation of employers in the new TVSD Commission, where they will hold the majority of seats (8 of 14). The other is their involvement in sector skills councils, through which they are expected to help shape the content of VET programmes and the qualifications that these programmes provide. The national report underlines that these new opportunities have been designed specifically to address the problem of skills mismatch and limited VET relevance[56] NRF B.1.3 and B.1.7
.
Employers in many of the economy's key sectors are well organised and have the capacity to participate in such ways, so the renewed effort of authorities to engage employers in VET is a step in the right direction. Jordan has several, well-organised chambers of industry in all major cities, such as Amman, Zarqa and Irbid, and it also has one at the national level. In addition, there are more than 50 employers' associations and unions in different sectors (albeit none of them is represented in the council of the TVSD Commission), such as industry, ICT, tourism, banking, agriculture, trades, hospitals and health care, crafts professions and shops, and transportation and distribution[57] NRF B.2.II
. It remains to be seen whether these new initiatives will manage to bring about change in a context in which private-sector participation in education and training has traditionally lagged behind expectations, even in areas of cooperation in which financial incentives are usually strong for both sides, such as university–industry collaborations (Rybnicek & Königsgruber, 2018)[58] In 2019, Jordan ranked 57th globally on the index of university–industry collaboration in R&D, according to the 2019 Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum. See http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2019/competitiveness-rankings/#series=EOSQ072
.
As noted in the national report, employers are mainly involved in the governance of the TVET sector through their representation on boards of directors or governing councils, as well as in the implementation of some joint donor-supported projects. However, they are still far behind in playing the leadership role that the various strategies aspire for them to take in VET governance, policy-setting, and programme planning[59] NRF B.2.II
. Employers are not yet involved in VET in terms of participation in the setting of standards, the design of content, and the testing of competencies, and they still tend to be seen by the authorities and VET providers as 'guests rather than stakeholders' (ETF, 2017).
Figure 5. Private-sector employment in Jordan by enterprise size and number of persons employed (2017)
Source of data: Department of Statistics Jordan
One aspect of the problem is that the bodies representing the private sector do not necessarily capture the full range of employer needs, given that they are mostly geared towards the needs of larger enterprises, whereas the economy of Jordan is dominated by small and micro-enterprises of less than 20 employees. Micro-enterprises with four employees or fewer account for most of the job creation in Jordan (Figure 5), but their needs are the most difficult to capture and record, partly because they are the most likely to employ people informally[60] Ibid.
.
Boosting the labour market relevance of VET through entrepreneurial learning
Jordan is mobilising entrepreneurial learning (EL) to improve the labour market relevance of its education and training system. The National Human Resources Development Strategy, for example, states that the introduction of EL in technical and vocational programmes is a strategic objective, which by 2025 should help to 'substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant technical and vocational skills for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship'[61] NRF B.2.2.1
.
By identifying EL as a policy response to the limited relevance of education and training, Jordan follows a major international trend. In the EU, education for entrepreneurship is seen as a potentially effective solution to boost labour market relevance in initial vocational training, because students are close to entering working life and self-employment may be a valuable option for many of them (European Commission, 2009). Beyond the EU, entrepreneurial learning is also one of the dominant themes in the global discourse on how to address the persistent mismatch between the skills delivered through education and training and the economic and labour market needs of countries (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2019a).
Data from a 2019 tracer study carried out by the Vocational Training Corporation (VTC) and cited in the national report suggest that the introduction of entrepreneurial learning in Jordanian VET is a worthwhile investment in order to raise the labour market relevance of VET outcomes. Of the self-employed VET graduates who started a business, close to 69% worked in sectors that matched their training specialisations, and their wages were also higher than the average income of peers working in the same field and professional position[62] NRF B.2.2.1
. This is an encouraging finding that merits further exploration and promotion among future graduates in order to encourage more self-employment and business creation, especially considering that the overall readiness of working-age people to start their own business in Jordan has been on the decline in recent years (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Business creation in Jordan by density of new businesses (2010–2018)
Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) database
However, there are also risk factors that may impede the effectiveness of these and other EL-related policies. In addition to structural problems such as red tape and fiscal and investment instability (World Bank, 2020), another major risk is the persistently weak entrepreneurial culture among young people in Jordan, which is partly due to the lack of focus on EL in most TVET and higher education programmes[63] National Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Medium and Small Enterprise Development 2016–2020 and NRF B.2.2
.
While governance issues may explain part of the problem mentioned above, they also pose a serious threat to the effectiveness of EL as a policy measure in VET. Specifically, the implementation of entrepreneurial learning follows the division lines of governance responsibilities for the VET sector and is therefore uneven across the system.
The training programmes of the VTC, for instance, envisage the provision of 75 hours of EL-related training, which includes communication, vocational tracks, self-marketing, problem-solving, life skills, entrepreneurship and self-employment, and e-government. At the same time, the vocational providers under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education do not provide any entrepreneurship training, while Balqa Applied University (BAU) and its affiliated community colleges offer only a single entrepreneurship skills course as part of the intermediate college diploma. Finally, the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) implements financing programmes to support TVET graduates who wish to start their own business, but the DEF programmes have no bearing on the labour market relevance of any TVET content provided before graduation[64] NRF B.2.2
.
3.1.3 Recommendations
R.1 Raise the responsiveness of TVET to labour market needs by focusing on evidence
Jordan is investing in the development of education and training databases and labour market information systems (LMISs) with the ambition of using the evidence to improve the labour market relevance of TVET outcomes. However, the TVET sector is largely unprepared to use the evidence for policy and planning purposes. There are no mechanisms for proper follow-up on the basis of the evidence in terms of adapting the course offering or content, and the process of updating the training programmes is complex, burdensome and slow.
Addressing these shortcomings is entirely within the remit of the TVET sector. The ETF recommends establishing a process of regular (annual) reviews and – where needed – updates of TVET programmes in all TVET subsectors based on regular screening and consideration of labour market evidence provided by the LMIS. This could be done by reinforcing the mandate of existing bodies, such as the newly established sector skills councils, to coordinate with the private sector. In this respect, it would be important to put the annual review of programme relevance based of labour market evidence high on the agenda of the councils responsible for governing the various segments of TVET in Jordan, most notably the TVSD Commission in keeping with its mandate to support youth and address unemployment through better TVET.
Additionally, the ETF recommends a revision of the process for updating TVET programmes to bring the process closer to VET providers and make it faster and more agile. The modularisation of programmes could be an important element in this effort.
R.2 Prioritise small and micro-enterprises in the promotion of partnerships between TVET and the private sector
The involvement of private-sector employers in TVET governance and planning is a major priority in all national strategies that prioritise human capital development. The employers are mainly involved in the governance of TVET through their participation on boards of directors or governing councils. However, their de facto role in VET governance, policy-setting and programme planning is still limited, and the choice of partners from the private sector is not representative.
The ETF recommends expanding the involvement of employers to include their participation in the setting of TVET standards, the design of training content, and the testing of competencies provided by TVET. An extra effort should be invested in capturing the needs of small and micro-enterprises, which at the time of this assessment were the dominant drivers of job creation in the country. This could be done by diversifying the current profile of private-sector representatives on the TVSD Commission to reflect the composition of the labour market more accurately. In addition to participation, financial incentives and support, the key to involving small and micro-businesses would be to provide them with the prospect of training that links to their business needs.
R.3 Harmonise the provision of entrepreneurial learning across the TVET system
In line with international trends and good practice, Jordan is at work on raising the relevance of TVET programmes and curricula by enriching them with entrepreneurial learning (EL) content. However, there are structural problems with implementation. At the time of this assessment, most TVET and higher education programmes did not include any focus on EL, and there was an uneven level of commitment to the implementation of EL across the TVET system.
The ETF recommends prioritising EL in all segments of TVET irrespective of the division of governance responsibilities for the sector, and ensuring that there is a unified approach to the integration of EL in curricula across the TVET system. This could be done, for instance, by committing to minimum standards for EL provision, such as a comparable number of hours and a comparable choice of EL elements, which may include the current VTC focus on communication, vocational tracks, self-marketing, problem-solving, life skills, entrepreneurship and self-employment.
3.2.1 Description of the problem
Equitable access to education, training and employment opportunities is a strategic priority in all policy plans for human capital development in Jordan. The current institutional strategies of both the VTC and the MoE commit to ensuring participation in education and employment for all groups and segments of the Jordanian population[65] As quoted in NRF C.2.3
. This has been a long-term policy goal at least since 2006 and the establishment of the National Agenda 2006–2015[66] http://inform.gov.jo/en-us/By-Date/Report-Details/ArticleId/5/2006-2015-National-Agenda
.
Despite the long-term commitment, certain groups of Jordanian citizens continue to be disadvantaged in terms of access to education and employment, which in turn prevents them from contributing to the social and economic development of the country and hampers their prospects for individual prosperity and well-being.
The two most affected groups are women and youth of secondary-school age. The rate of female workforce participation is persistently low, while the propensity of youth to avoid technical and vocational education as a choice of study hampers the effectiveness of policies that promote HCD through TVET. The latter also limits the employment prospects of young people, especially young women.
The next sections provide further details on these HCD challenges.
Low rate of participation in technical and vocational education and training
According to data from school-to-work transition surveys, TVET graduates have a better chance of finding work and are less likely to become economically inactive. They also stand a better chance of higher returns on their investment in education by finding employment in the private sector (OECD, 2018), which in times of declining opportunities for public-sector employment puts them at a clear advantage over graduates from general secondary and even higher education.
Messages based on such evidence, however, do not seem to be sufficient to convince youth and their families in Jordan of the merits of making TVET their choice of study. Only a fraction of young people of school age opt for secondary VET (12.8% on average since 2010, as shown in Figure 7), which is considerably lower than in OECD and EU countries, where the share is closer to 50%. The low rate of participation also stands in stark contrast with the importance that Jordan places on TVET as a policy measure to promote economic development and youth employment.
Figure 7. Students in vocational programmes as a percentage of total upper secondary students (ISCED level 3) in Jordan (2010–2018) and the EU-28 (2017)
Sources: Eurostat and UNESCO UIS
The national report suggests that most of those who enrol in VET would prefer instead to join a general education track that leads to higher education. The vast majority of those joining VTC or MoE VET programmes do so because their academic success is too low to qualify them for non-vocational alternatives[67] NRF C.2.1
. In addition, many are concerned about TVET as a dead end because of the limited horizontal and vertical mobility between vocational and general education/academic pathways[68] National Human Resource Development Strategy 2016–2025 and NRF C.1.1
.
The averages on participation in VET hide large variations in enrolment between regions, types of providers, and groups of students. Young women benefit far less from education and training opportunities in VET than young men (Figure 8), and remote and rural providers in the network of the Vocational and Training Corporation (VTC) are more likely to struggle to fill their enrolment capacity than providers in urban areas, particularly Amman[69] NRF C.1.1
.
Figure 8. Female students in vocational programmes at upper secondary level (ISCED 3) as A share of total enrolment in such programmes
Sources: Eurostat and UNESCO UIS
VET programmes under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education are more attractive to prospective students than those offered by the VTC, and count twice as many students even though they offer a comparable number of places to those in the VTC system[70] Ibid.
. The national report suggests that the reason behind the preference for MoE programmes is not their quality or labour market relevance, but the better prospect for progression to higher education that their certificates provide. As Figure 7 shows, even with the higher level of participation in these programmes, VET accounted for only 11.5% of total secondary education enrolment in 2018 (the latest year for which data exist).
Limited participation in the labour market
Stakeholders, experts and external observers in Jordan agree that one of the country's major labour market challenges is its persistently high rate of unemployment[71] NRF B.1.1
, particularly among youth of working age (40.6% in 2019) and women (59% in 2019) (Figure 9). Young women are more likely to become NEETs[72] Youth aged 15–24 who are not in employment, education or training
than young men. In 2017, close to half (48.2%) of all women aged 15–24 in Jordan were not in employment, education or training. In the same year young women accounted for over 60% of all NEETs in the country[73] Source: ETF database
.
Figure 9. Share of unemployed youth and women OF working age in Jordan (2010–2019)
Source: ETF database
Note: 'youth' refers to young people aged 15–24, while 'working age' refers to people aged 15–64
Jordan also has one of the lowest rates of female economic activity (15.5%) worldwide[74] NRF B.1.1
, although there are considerable differences between governorates (Figure 10). In Tafiela and Ajloun, for example, more than one-fifth of the female population of working age is either employed or looking for employment. This figure is considerably above the average for the country, as is the figure for Karak and Jarash, where around 18% of women of working age are economically active.
At the same time, in a number of other regions such as Aqaba, Maan, Zarqa and the capital Amman, over 85% of women are neither working nor looking for a job. In Zarqa, less than 7% of women of working age are economically active, while in Amman and Aqaba the figure is considerably higher (12.9%) but still below the national average, as is the rate of activity in Maan (11.4%).
Figure 10. Economically active WOMEN by economic activity status and governorate, as A share of the female population aged 15+ (2019)
Source of data: Department of Statistics of Jordan at http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/linked-html/Emp&Un.htm
Of the comparatively modest number of women in Jordan who make the transition to employment and manage to stay economically active and employed, some 73% work in professions that require a high level of skills and high educational attainment, unlike the majority of men in employment (68.5%) who tend to work in jobs that require a secondary education degree (Table 4).
Table 4. Employment by broad ISCO-08 occupations and gender in Jordan, in % of the population aged 15+ (2019)
Males |
Females |
|
Jobs requiring a low level of skills |
6.9% |
6.4% |
Jobs requiring a medium level of skills |
68.5% |
20.3% |
Jobs requiring a high level of skills |
24.5% |
73.3% |
Source: ETF database
Note: 'low' refers to ISCO-08 Group 9; 'medium' refers to ISCO-08 Groups 4–8; 'high' refers to ISCO-08 Groups 1–3
The concentration of women of working age at the two extreme ends of the employment statistic, together with the varying, yet consistently low rate of their economic activity across the country, suggests that there is a considerable divide in the employment prospects of women in Jordan. Not only the national report, but also prior reports by external observers suggest that the divide runs along the lines of disadvantage associated with the place of residence of girls and women, their socio-economic background, their age and their educational attainment.
Young mothers, for example, are limited to employment opportunities that can provide appropriate working conditions in terms of flexibility and workload[75] NRF A.3.2
and such opportunities are notoriously scarce in Jordan (ETF, 2016b). Table 4 also suggests that women with a low-to-medium level of skills and lower than tertiary education are less likely to find and/or retain a job, while the data in Figure 10 illustrate that the likelihood of participation by women in the labour market is also determined by their place of residence. In 2019, for example, a woman in Tafiela was three times more likely to be in employment or looking for a job than a woman in Zarqa, the governorate with the lowest rate of economic activity among women that year (Figure 10).
One aspect of the problem described here is the dramatically unequal distribution of opportunities for labour market participation across the country. In Amman, women account for over 40% of total unemployment, followed by Irbid with 24.7% and Balqa with 7%. As a result, their unemployment rate does not seem to depend on the rate of their participation in the economy: in regions where the female population is the most active, like Tafiela and Ajloun, the unemployment rate for women is also the lowest, at 2% and 4.3%, respectively (Table 5).
Table 5. Female activity rate and unemployment as A share of total unemployment in Jordan, by governorate (2019)
Governorate |
Rate of female unemployment |
Female activity rate |
Share of households in the top two annual income quintiles* |
Amman |
40.7% |
12.9% |
12.4% |
Irbid |
24.7% |
15.1% |
5.6% |
Balqa |
7.0% |
16.0% |
7.9% |
Zarqa |
5.7% |
6.9% |
4.7% |
Mafraq |
4.3% |
16.7% |
3.0% |
Ajloun |
4.3% |
20.1% |
4.1% |
Karak |
3.6% |
18.6% |
10.1% |
Jarash |
3.2% |
18.2% |
3.9% |
Tafiela |
2.0% |
22.1% |
4.0% |
Aqaba |
1.9% |
12.9% |
5.0% |
Madaba |
1.8% |
15.1% |
5.1% |
Maan |
1.0% |
11.4% |
3.4% |
Source: Department of Statistics of Jordan
* Annual income above JOD 22 500
In fact, with exception of the governorate of Karak, women are most likely to struggle finding a job in the more prosperous parts of the country, such as Amman, Balqa or Irbid. Considering that economic growth tends to be positively associated with the creation of jobs (Kapsos, 2005), this fact implies that economic advancement in Jordan does not necessarily translate into the creation of job opportunities for women despite commitments to the contrary in numerous projects and development strategies, as the next section describes. The same also appears to be true for youth. According to a transition survey cited in the national report, 58% of young people waiting to make the transition to employment would reject jobs offers because of inadequate pay or inappropriate workplace conditions[76] NRF B.1.1.1
.
3.2.2 Policy responses and gaps
The Jordanian authorities have introduced measures to address a variety of challenges concerning education, training and labour market participation. Some of the measures focus specifically on the low rate of participation in education and training, while others target the difficulties of youth and women to enter the labour market. For the sake of clarity, these two policy aims are discussed separately below in some detail.
Description and effectiveness of policies addressing low participation in HCD through VET
In Jordan, the goal of attracting youth to HCD opportunities through TVET is shared among various national development strategies and the institutional strategies of bodies responsible for segments of the TVET provider network, such as the Vocational and Training Corporation and the Ministry of Education. There is also a third group of commitments to meet the same goal, which are formulated in the terms of reference and memoranda that underpin projects by the donor community in Jordan.
In terms of national development strategies, the already completed National Agenda 2006–2015 has in many ways set the strategic course and choice of priorities for all subsequent strategies, such as the National Employment Strategy 2011–2020 and the National E-TVET Strategy 2014–2020. Each places a priority on social inclusion and the provision of opportunities for every Jordanian citizen, whereas the E-TVET Strategy is naturally richer in sector-specific commitments and operational detail, such as setting a commitment to promote the participation specifically of women and youth. The overarching strategic goal is to promote economic growth and social development through policies to create an effective, unified E-TVET system that enables 'all Jordanians to fulfil their career aspirations'[77] NRF A.2.4.1 and National E-TVET Strategy 2014–2020, Pillar No. 3
.
The national report notes that an action plan was created to implement the strategy. However, it has never been implemented, nor is there a system to monitor progress and follow up implementation[78] NRF A.2.4
. Indeed, translating priorities for participation in HCD opportunities through TVET into operational commitments is left to the bodies in charge of various segments of the TVET system.
In its strategic plan until 2024, for example, the VTC has adopted various programmes to promote equal treatment and enrolment opportunities in its training programmes, including a commitment to boost female participation in vocational training by at least 3%[79] NRF C.2.3
. The Ministry of Education has also set strategic objectives to include equal access to education and to VET in particular, with specific commitments to invest in infrastructure, develop inclusive education, and open up opportunities for lifelong learning. The MoE's Strategic Plan 2018–2022 envisages the establishment of 15 specialised vocational schools, half of which will be for females, and the renovation of infrastructure for all VET schools under MoE responsibility as a means to promote better VET access. In addition, the MoE implements several programmes of non-formal learning that aim to give second-chance training opportunities to adults and youth who have dropped out of education[80] Strategic Plan 2018–2022 of the Ministry of Education, and NRF C.2.4.
.
Finally, Jordan also provides opportunities for low-fee and no-fee participation in TVET in various governorates with the hope that it will stimulate the participation of people from marginalised settings, especially women. Some of the opportunities come in the form of VET-related programmes financed by the TVSD Commission (previously the ETVET Fund), for instance, opening satellite factories in rural areas, offering full payment of training fees for VTC trainees to cover their transport costs and work clothes, and providing financial support[81] NRF C.1.4
.
The overall success of the measures remains mixed, with female enrolment rates in VET fluctuating from year to year, sometimes by as much as 12% (from 2015 to 2016, as Figure 11 shows). Jordan also has a high rate of early leavers, which is considerably higher than in EU countries (Table 6) and, as Figure 7 shows, the rate of participation in VET is persistently low in international comparison (11.5% in 2018), especially for young women (8.6% in the same year).
Figure 11. Gender parity index of female enrolment in VTC programmes, year-on-year change (2014–2017)
Source: National Torino Process report (NRF C.2.3)
Table 6. Early leavers from education and training (% aged 18–24) by sex in Jordan and the EU (2017)
Jordan |
EU-28 |
|
Total |
51.3% |
10.5% |
Male |
56.5% |
12.1% |
Female |
45.7% |
8.9% |
Source: ETF database and Eurostat
Such data suggest that the intended effect of the policy measures may be susceptible to the adverse influence of factors that have not yet been fully taken into consideration. One of the factors is the lack of proper support for students, particularly female students, during the training. According to the national report, the only support measure in place is to extend the length of training for those who fail to meet the minimum requirements for advancement or graduation. Although extensions are granted with care and on a case-by-case basis, the national report suggests that the measure itself addresses only one of many possible reasons why VET students, particularly women and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, may struggle to learn and/or be at risk of dropping out: because they have insufficient time to follow the training.
Risks to participation in education and training, however, may stem from a wide variety of individual, educational and socio-economic factors (CEDEFOP, 2016)[82] See also Communication by the European Commission COM (2011) 18 final of 31 January 2011.
. Examples include a vulnerable family background, the lack of individualised approaches to teaching, mismatch between training programmes and subjects within the programmes, etc., all of which may jeopardise the chances of students to access VET, make progress and ultimately graduate. The promotion of access and success in VET would normally require solutions that are diversified enough to take all of these possibilities into account.
Another factor that limits the effectiveness of policies to promote VET access and participation is fragmentation in the implementation of strategic priorities among the various bodies in charge of VET in Jordan. There is little evidence of coordination or integration in the implementation of these and other priorities among the various TVET systems[83] NRF B.II
. The measures introduced by the MoE do not take into account the measures implemented by the VTC or BAU with its network of colleges, or vice versa. According to stakeholders in the discussion meetings held for the national report, there is ample overlap and even competition for students and donor support targeting VET access and equity.
The national report describes a third possible reason for the limited traction of policies, which is the relative marginalisation of VET in comparison with other segments of the education and training system, together with a lack of flexibility in the provision of VET to accommodate the different learning needs and circumstances of at-risk learners. Not only the report, but also the National Human Resource Development Strategy notes that for some years now, vocationally oriented subjects have been scaled back in the curricula of all schools in favour of allocating more time to promoting literacy and numeracy. In turn, this results in a lack of awareness about VET and reinforces the cultural stigma of choosing technical and vocational paths over academically oriented ones. It also results in streaming low performing students into VET, which further diminishes the attractiveness of the sector. In addition, the timing of classes in VET schools is limited to daytime hours, which constrains the enrolment prospects for those who, for family or work-related reasons, can attend only in the evenings[84] NRF C.1.3
.
Description and effectiveness of policies addressing limited youth and female participation in employment
In Jordan, the empowerment of youth and women to participate in the economy is a priority in every major strategy for economic, social and HCD-related development. As with other priorities, the course in this respect was set by the National Agenda 2006–2015, which stated that female participation in the labour force was a main objective. Subsequent strategies have consistently carried on the commitment. Examples include the E-TVET Strategy, which has a pillar devoted to labour market relevance and inclusiveness of opportunities; the National Employment Strategy, which was specifically developed to address the low employability and unemployment of Jordanians (especially youth and women); and the Jordan Poverty Reduction Strategy, which aims to provide gainful employment for all Jordanians, especially youth, women, and people with disabilities.
The national authorities actively translate these commitments into actions. Some of the actions rely on the participation of women and youth in formal education and training. Others involve training provided in the form of active labour market policy (ALMP) measures. Finally, a third group of actions is organised and implemented in the context of projects supported by bilateral donors. All of these actions are rich in detail and ambition, but there is also scope for improvement to raise their effectiveness and impact, as discussed below.
Measures in the domain of formal education and training
The measures in formal education and training include initial VET programmes provided by the VTC with a focus on labour market relevance through work-based learning (WBL) in cooperation with the private sector, and also through programmes by the National Employment and Training Company (NET) with a similar focus and priority, where trainees are required to spend up to one-third of their training time gaining experience on the job[85] NRF D.1.1.2
. The same is true for the VET programmes of Balqa Applied University, where on-the-job experience is one of the conditions for successful graduation.
At the same time the VET programmes offered by providers under the responsibility of the MoE, which are also more popular in terms of student interest and enrolment, are considerably more limited in WBL opportunities. The national report notes that the practical training in these programmes takes place for the most part in the workshops of VET schools, not in enterprises.
A shared weakness of the current solutions in the domain of formal education and training is that they fail to reach some of their target populations, notably women who are inactive or looking for employment. According to the national report, the rate of enrolment in apprenticeships and other forms of WBL remains unsatisfactory, mostly owing to cultural limitations and the failure of providers and partner enterprises to provide appropriate working conditions for women. Most young women in Jordan continue opting for general education instead of VET, and those who do enrol in VET usually limit their choice of programme to one of the few vocational streams provided in women-friendly surroundings in traditional female professions like hairdressing and nursing, which are not necessarily in demand in the labour market (ETF, 2016b). As long as the measures that support young women through formal education and training fail to take into consideration and address these entrenched patterns of enrolment, they may not be as effective in promoting female participation in employment.
Measures in the domain of ALMP
The national reporting framework of the Torino Process notes that ALMPs commonly aim to motivate and incentivise people to look for employment, make them more employable through retraining, expand the opportunities for those who are inactive, etc. At the time of this assessment, several initiatives in Jordan were directed at reducing the high unemployment rate of youth and women through training and retraining, but they were achieving mixed success.
A prominent example of these initiatives is the satellite factories project[86] NRF B.1.6
. Launched in 2008 by the Ministry of Labour (MoL), the project seeks is to reduce unemployment among young women in rural areas by encouraging investors to establish factories or affiliate production sites in disadvantaged areas and create employment opportunities for women. According to the MoL, by 2018 the initiative had helped to open 24 garment factories across Jordan that employed close to 5 900 employees, 38% of which were women[87] Ibid. and http://www.mol.gov.jo
.
Another, more recent initiative of the MoL is the National Service Programme. The programme provides vocational and technical training to youth in the age group 18–30 for a length of five months, with male participants spending an additional month with the military. The vocational training is offered in the fields of industry, agriculture, water technology, renewable energy, logistics, transportation, tourism, construction, food processing and garments. The technical training covers pre-school education, ICT and engineering. The declared target of the programme is to train and employ a total of 20 000 participants[88] http://khedmetwatan.jo
.
Both of these initiatives are promising. While the latter one is too recent yet to have gained traction, the former one is yielding tangible results. Both, however, share a common weakness: their narrow focus on the economically active population. None of the actions addresses economic inactivity, especially among women of working age, which is a far more widespread challenge than unemployment. According to data from the Department of Statistics, the share of working-age women who may potentially be left out because they are inactive was over 96% in 2019[89] See Department of Statistics of Jordan, http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/linked-html/Emp&Un.htm
. Another challenge with the two initiatives is that they are designed and implemented by international organisations with little involvement of the national authorities.
Projects and donor-supported initiatives
According to combined data from the database of gender programmes of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) and the national report,[90] See http://www.mop.gov.jo/ and NRF A.2.4.1
close to 100 projects have been tagged as women's economic empowerment projects since 2015. Of these, more than one-fifth are listed as supporting vocational training, 35 have a skills development component, and 13 are listed as supporting women entrepreneurs (ETF, 2016b). Some 60% of the projects focus on promoting employment in the service sector, while the remaining projects target the manufacturing sector.
It is beyond the scope of this assessment to evaluate the impact of bilateral support for female and youth participation in employment. However, it is important to note that the priority of the Jordanian authorities to improve the use of human capital in the economy by supporting youth and women through education and training coincides fully with the relative importance attached to this strategic task by bilateral donors in their projects. Women are the intended beneficiaries of some 70% of these projects, and as many as 80% have a combined focus on youth and women[91] NRF A.3.5.
. Overall, the biggest number of donor projects in education and training are projects that promote workforce participation and offer job placement services.
One of the major challenges is to mainstream project insights and achievements into the routine operation of the education and training system and adopt solutions and ideas that have proven their effectiveness and value as standard practice in the operation of labour market services. Although most projects in education and training have a plan to do so as part of their sustainability considerations, there is no evidence that the plans have led to the adoption of system-wide changes on the basis of project results (see also Section 2.3).
Another challenge, which commonly remains unaddressed because it is often beyond the remit of projects that support the (re)integration of youth and women through education and training, relates to the unfavourable working conditions that come with most job opportunities, especially those in the private sector, which also happen to be the most numerous. Prior reports have established that working conditions and the attitudes of employers towards female employees are among the key factors that prevent young (female) graduates from finding their first employment, discourage women in employment from staying employed, and impede those who are not active from re-entering the labour market. The absorption capacity of the labour market for female jobseekers remains weak, as does its responsiveness to the more specific requirements of female workers, particularly mothers and women transitioning from inactivity to work (ETF, 2016b; ETF, 2016a).
Shared policy weaknesses
According to some of the prior analysis of measures that promote the participation of youth and women in employment in Jordan, policies do not pay sufficient attention to the diversity of their intended beneficiaries (ETF, 2016a). The needs of young female graduates in search of their first job are likely to be different from those of women who are forced to leave their jobs and become inactive, while the needs of both groups also differ from the needs and possibilities of women who have been economically inactive for a prolonged period of time. At the time of this assessment, there was no evidence that such a differentiation by target group had gained any traction in the policy planning and implementation in this area.
In the same vein, the policy responses described in the national report address only a narrow selection of the factors that prevent youth and women from participating in the national economy. Most commonly, the focus is on remedies to address skills mismatch, notably the supply of skills through education and training and the educational choices of women. Little is done, however, to address other contributing factors, such as unfavourable employment conditions and the attitudes and beliefs within the socio-economic and family contexts of women, which may be preventing their transition from inactivity and their ability to retain a job.
Addressing these factors in a more balanced way would involve designing measures that provide support for youth and women at several transition points from and to the world of work, for example from education to work or from inactivity to employment. The measures would also seek to prevent the transition from work to inactivity. To be effective, support policies should be differentiated and comprehensive enough to equip youth and women to make a successful transition from education or inactivity to employment, encourage and guide them in making the transition, and empower and support them to stay in employment (ETF, 2016a).
3.2.3 Recommendations
R.4 Improve and diversify support for at-risk students in TVET
The Jordanian authorities have introduced a range of policy measures to attract youth and women to opportunities for HCD through VET, but there are also some limitations that prevent the measures from gaining traction and supporting their intended beneficiaries.
One of the limitations is the lack of proper support for students, particularly female students, who may be struggling with their VET instruction. At the time of this assessment, the only form of support that they received was to extend the length of their training. The ETF recommends developing solutions that address a wider selection of risks to participation, such as the poor quality of teaching, the fact that the family situation of students may call for greater flexibility in the timing of courses, the lack of an individualised approach to teaching, etc. A renewed discussion of these challenges should be put high on the work agenda of the TVSD Commission as well.
R.5 Improve the conditions for female participation in mainstream TVET courses
Jordan has introduced various measures to empower youth and women to participate in the labour market. Some of the measures lie in the domain of formal education and training and involve the promotion of work-based learning and participation in TVET in general as a means to facilitate a successful transition to employment. However, TVET providers and private-sector providers do not always create working conditions that are appropriate for women in apprenticeship schemes. Also, despite all opportunities, prospective female students still tend to select programmes in traditional female occupations that may not be in demand in the labour market.
The ETF recommends improving the conditions for female participation in mainstream TVET courses. This should include improving the course offer, making it more gender-sensitive, raising awareness and gender sensitivity among TVET teachers and trainers, and establishing more gender-friendly training environments.
The ETF also reiterates a recommendation from 2016 (ETF, 2016b) to set up a comprehensive, national career guidance system where the course counselling includes a focus on encouraging women to expand their options when choosing educational fields of study.
R.6 Prioritise HCD measures that support the reintegration of inactive women into the labour market
At the time of this assessment, there were several ALMP initiatives to reduce the high unemployment rate of youth and women through training and retraining. This chapter has noted that their impact is positive and tangible, but also that they benefit only those women and youth who are economically active.
The ETF recommends expanding these measures to include inactive women and youth in order to support their reintegration in the economy, for instance by investing in the development of a CVET offer in accordance with labour market demand across the country; by mainstreaming CVET as a policy priority in the work of bodies that govern the TVET sector, starting with the TVSD Commission; and by revisiting the rules, regulations, and compliance control mechanisms concerning the conditions of work for female employees.
Examples of prioritisation measures could include preparing information and incentive packages for women, youth and their families in support of labour market participation and addressing the non-monetary obstacles to labour market participation. These obstacles are largely neglected and include working environments where there is a lack of responsiveness to the needs of women for flexible working arrangements and part-time employment, and where employment decisions tend to discriminate against female candidates for employment.