The Jordanian Labor Market in the New Millennium

This collection is the first to analyse the results of the Jordan Labour Market Panel Survey of 2010 (JLMPS 2010), a major household survey of labour market conditions carried out in Jordan by the Economic Research Forum. The chapters cover topics that are essential to understanding the conditions leading to the Arab Spring, including the persistence of high youth unemployment despite fairly healthy economic growth, the co-existence of in-migration, high unemployment, and out-migration, the very low and stagnant female participation rates despite rapid increases in educational attainment and delayed marriage among Jordanian women, and the unusually early retirement among prime-age male workers. The chapters make use of this unique data set to provide a fresh analysis of the Jordanian labour market that was simply not feasible with previously existing data. The book will prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the Economics of the Middle East and the political economy of the Arab Spring.

1 - The Structure and Evolution of Employment in Jordan
2 - Demographics, Labor Force Participation, and Unemployment in Jordan
3 - The School-To-Work Transition of Jordanian Youth
4 - Gender and the Jordanian Labor Market
5 - Wage Formation and Earnings Inequality in the Jordanian Labor Market
6 - Immigration, Emigration and the Labor Market in Jordan
7 - Trends and Differentials in Jordanian Marriage Behavior: Marriage Timing, Spousal Characteristics, Household Structure, and Matrimonial Expenditures
8 - The Patterns of Early Retirement Among Jordanian Men

Ragui Assaad is Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He has been a Research Fellow of the Economic Research Forum since 1994 and thematic leader of its Labour and Human Resource Development thematic area since 2011. He holds a PhD in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He served as Regional Director for West Asia and North Africa for the Population Council, based in Cairo, Egypt, from 2005 to 2008.