"Jordan issues more than 100,000 work permits for Syrians", 18 July 2018

The Ministry of Labour has issued over 106,000 work permits for Syrian refugees so far while the number of workers in the informal economy remains at an estimated 300,000, head of the Syrian Refugees Department at the Ministry of Labour Hamdan Yacoub said on Saturday. Yacoub warned that “the engagement of refugees with the informal economy is one of the most worrisome factors when gauging the impact of the refugee crisis on the Jordanian labour market”... Yacoub noted that “there is a percentage of Syrian refugees who are reluctant to follow the procedures to obtain work permits”, explaining that “many of these individuals fear losing the financial support provided by international organisations or the possibility of resorting to a different country as a result of the issuance of a work permit and the regulation of their situation in Jordan”... For his part, Mohammad Maaytah, international expert on migrant workers and refugees at the Arab Trade Union Confederation, pointed out that “while regulating the labour market by granting work permits to refugees is part of the solution, the core of the issue lies in the lack of sufficient jobs for Jordanians, migrants and refugees alike”.