Youth Exclusion Costs Jordan US$1.5 Billion Annually

Although Jordan has been successful in investment, GDP growth, and job creation, unemployment has remained stubbornly high. The youth (15-30 years old) are particularly affected: almost one third of young Jordanians are unemployed, and more than half of young Jordanian girls are inactive (not in school and not in the labor force). Assigning a dollar amount to the costs related to youth unemployment, joblessness, school dropout, adolescent pregnancy and migration has resulted in a staggering estimate: the Jordanian economy is losing as much as US$1.5 billion annually due to these forms of youth exclusion. This represents almost 7% of Jordan's GDP.

In a recent study titled The Costs of Youth Exclusion in the Middle East, Jad Chaaban, Assistant Professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut and former World Bank economist, estimates the economic costs to society due to youth unemployment, joblessness, school dropout, adoloscent pregnancy, and youth migration in the Middle East. The analysis covers region-wide as well as country-specific estimates. The study also pioneers a new empirical methodology to benchmark costs against an "best-practice frontier" in which the overall cost of youth exclusion would be comparable across countries.  

In recommending action by Middle Eastern countries to resolve economic constraints on young people, Chaaban demonstrates that sheer resource endowments do not impact a country’s ability to reduce youth exclusion. Instead, achieving youth inclusion depends largely on the efficiency with which countries use their available resources.

Thumbnail image on homepage is from a MEYI visit to a LG-Jordan Career Education Foundation Workplace Success Program.