Employment of Syrian refugees in Jordan: challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT

Employment is a key issue for refugees, host states, and local communities, whose interests in this area often diverge. Based on an ethnographic qualitative study among Syrian refugees and Jordanian citizens, this research sheds much-needed light on the dynamics of employment of refugees in Jordan. Research findings demonstrate how Syrian refugees work in both the formal and informal sectors of the labor market with an emphasis on legal precarity, job insecurity, poor working conditions, and workplace discrimination. Refugee women face additional challenges due to gender roles and cultural sensitivities. Employment also brings opportunities to refugees with regards to access to sustainable livelihoods, self-sufficiency, socialization, and regaining of the sense of dignity. Growing Syrian refugee employment in Jordan makes an urgent need for social workers to focus their efforts on addressing work-related problems and making advancements benefiting refugees, host communities, and policymakers.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugee employment
• Syrian refugees
• Jordan
• labor market participation
• international social work

Acknowledgments

We thank interviewees in Jordan who generously shared their experiences and thoughts for this research. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their careful reading and insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

1. The International Labor Organization (2017b) defines a Qualified Industrial Zone as “an industrial estate that specializes in manufacturing for export. These zones are established with special incentives to support free trade and attract foreign investors. Working conditions and industrial relations in these zones often do not meet international labor standards.”

The International Labor Organization (2017b) defines a Qualified Industrial Zone as “an industrial estate that specializes in manufacturing for export. These zones are established with special incentives to support free trade and attract foreign investors. Working conditions and industrial relations in these zones often do not meet international labor standards.”

2. This portal is a dynamic site – these figures were captured at a particular moment but the site itself has no “date” as such. Access date is provided in the bibliography part.

This portal is a dynamic site – these figures were captured at a particular moment but the site itself has no “date” as such. Access date is provided in the bibliography part.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.