Al-Shamali: The unemployment rate exceeded 22%, especially after the Corona pandemic, and the abolition of the Ministry of Labor is just recommendations that do not have to be taken into account

Al - Anbat - Roaa- Al - Zoubi

 Translated by - Neveen - Al - Jarrah 

Kanakriyeh: There is no pressure from the government to force the Guarantee Fund to provide the debt to it.

Labor Minister Youssef Al-Shamali said that the ministry has enhanced women's participation in work, after the Parliamentary Labor Committee approved the rate of the labor law and the ministry met with the committee. The relationship between the worker and the employer and the role of the ministry in the event of disputes between them was arranged.

And he indicated that the unemployment rate exceeded 22%, especially after the Corona pandemic, and that there are 300,000 expatriate workers holding permits, stressing that expatriate workers are more than that despite all the Ministry’s measures to limit violators, in addition to that the conditions of an estimated 114,000 out of 300,000 have been corrected. In all governorates of the Kingdom for the year 2021.

And Al-Shamali expressed his regret over the transformation of work permits into trade, indicating that the ministry worked to stop the transfer to other sectors previously, and we will allow the transfer on condition that a clearance from the employer is presented, and the ministry signed an agreement with the labor union and we gave them a quota of 5000 thousand workers, and they are not allowed to move to other sectors.

He drew attention to the fact that the issue of Syrians is completely different from expatriate workers, and they are treated as refugees, as there are 60,000 Syrian workers registered last year with the Ministry, explaining that the Syrian refugee does not register with the Ministry of Labor for fear of losing the aid that is disbursed to him from the UNHCR and losing refugee status. In addition to his fear of losing opportunities to immigrate to Europe in any case, pointing out that if any refugee is caught working, only the employer will be held accountable, due to Jordan's international obligations towards refugees.

Regarding the decision to abolish the Ministry of Labor and transform its business, he indicated that it is not a final decision and is still just recommendations that do not have to be taken into account, and there has been no decision yet to abolish the ministry.

According to the draft budget, the total current and capital expenditures of the Ministry of Labor for the year 2023 were estimated at 39,445,000 million Jordanian dinars, and according to the budget, the differences between the estimated allocations for the year 2023 and the re-estimated for 2022 became clear.

In terms of current expenditures, they were increased by an amount of (132) thousand dinars, compensation of workers, and concentrated in the natural increase of salaries, wages, and allowances, and it was increased by an amount of (15) thousand dinars. Dinars and concentrated in subsidies.

According to the ministry’s budget, the item of capital expenditures was increased by an amount of (30,269) thousand dinars. It focused on increasing allocations for committed projects by an amount of (269) thousand dinars, institutional capacities, the project to automate the Ministry of Labor, and allocating new allocations for the national employment program project by an amount of 30 million dinars.

For his part, the head of the Security Fund Investment Fund, Ezz El-Din Kanakriyeh, said that last year's data for the fund was positive, as it increased by 1.4 billion, and the guarantee assets reached 13.8 billion dinars.

He explained that the fund is working with several parties to reach investments that are in line with the visions of economic modernization, regarding the national carrier, between Kanakriyeh, that previous experiences indicate the preference of entering with a strategic partner, over entering as a developer in the project.

He stressed that there is no government pressure in this regard, as investment in bonds is through auctions offered by the Central Bank of Jordan.

And he indicated that government bonds achieve valuable returns for the guarantee money investment fund, which is one of the investment tools in which the fund invests, and that the fund submits to the auction according to what is stipulated in the instructions in force, and the auction is assigned according to the benefits offered by each applicant for the auction and it is not necessary to choose one party at the expense of another. 

With regard to the purchase of real estate, he indicated that the process is carried out by a specialized committee, and most of the opportunities we got were 10% less than the estimates.

There is no pressure from the government to force the guarantee fund to present the debt to it, and that the law prevents the government from borrowing directly, but borrowing is done by addressing the Central Bank to issue bonds, and the system chooses the lowest interest.

Kanakriyeh explained that government bonds generate valuable returns for the Guarantee Money Investment Fund, and that the government is committed to paying the due installments and interests within the specified dates, and there is no delay in the payment process.

In turn, the director of the Development and Employment Fund, Mansour Wreikat, said that the fund does not receive any allocations in the general budget, and the fund has provided it as financing since its establishment, amounting to approximately 335 million dinars.

He added that the fund launched two programs,on Monday ,in line with the visions of economic modernization to empower youth, and that the ministry is working on projects that encourage young people to transfer to technical and vocational education.

This came during the discussion of the Finance Committee, chaired by Representative Nimr Al-Sleihat, for the budget of the Ministry of Labor and its affiliated departments for the year 2023.