COVID-19 Impact on Syrian Refugees Employability in Jordan

Abstract

Jordan, a country with a high population of refugees, has become one of the most affected countries with the recent refugees’ crisis today. Increasing the loads on a country that already suffers from a high unemployment rate. As a result, Jordan has adopted strict labour regulations concerning the employment of foreign workforce including refugees, to ensure that Jordanian citizens are given a priority in accessing the job market first. Therefore, Syrian refugees are not only facing the difficulties that already existed since their arrival to Jordan, but also an additional burden that was added with the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 on Syrian refugees’ employability, through answering the research questions of: What was the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Syrian refugees’ employability? How did the different defence orders in Jordan affect the employability and/ or the financial income of the Syrian refugees? And were the Syrian refugees benefited from any additional financial assistance? Furthermore, the study was conducted after ten months of the start of the pandemic situation caused by COVID-19 in Jordan. Therefore, the refugees’ employability was assessed as before, during and after the strict pandemic lockdown.