Policy Briefs
Is Jordan Achieving the Social Insurance Goals of its New Social Contract?
No.
PB 92
Publisher
ERF
Date
September, 2022
Topic
K3. Other Substantive Areas of Law
J8. Labor Standards: National and International
J3. Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
In a nutshell:
- There is a regulatory gap in social insurance schemes for private sector jobs. The Jordanian social insurance scheme covers almost all types of jobs, except two types of wage work representing 35% of private sector wage employment: agricultural, domestic workers; those who work for wage but less than 16 days.
- In addition, there is a compliance gap as well. Among those jobs that are covered by provisions of the social insurance law, the effective coverage rate among private sector wage employment is on average 39%.
- Although the Social Security law does not discriminate by gender or nationality, yet there are significant differences in effective coverage rates by nationality. Jordanians are more than 6 times more likely to have social insurance coverage in their private sector wage work than non-Jordanians.
- Economic sector, firm size in terms of number of workers, and regularity of employment among key factors that determine access to social insurance coverage in the private sector.
- True irregular employment – in which a worker does not remain with any employer for more than a few days – is among the most challenging forms of employment to effectively cover.
Authors
Susan Razzaz
Economist
Research Fellows
Irène Selwaness
Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics and Political...