Jordan Daily – The Jordanian Labor Watch welcomed the decision of the Tripartite Committee for Labor Affairs to raise the minimum wage to 290 dinars as of the beginning of next year, considering it a step to improve the standard of living of workers and an investment in ensuring the country’s economic and social stability in the long term.
In a statement issued by the Jordanian Labor Watch of the Phenix Center for Economic Studies, it considered that despite the importance of increasing the minimum wage to 290 dinars, this increase does not meet the ambition, and it would have been more appropriate to raise it further, as increasing the minimum wage by only 30 dinars will keep large sectors of workers unable to meet the basic needs of their families, especially with the continuous rise in inflation rates.
The Jordanian Labor Watch explained that the minimum wage with the new increase, compared to the national average wage of 627 dinars, constitutes only about 46 percent of the average wage, while the International Labor Organization and global best practices recommend that the percentage should not be less than 55 percent.
The Jordanian Labor Watch believes that the new increase in the minimum wage is still far from covering the basic needs of workers and their families, especially in light of the high dependency rate in Jordan, where each working person supports at least three members, and emphasized that raising the minimum wage to fair levels ensures improving the living conditions of many families and reducing the high poverty rates in Jordan.
It pointed out that the tripartite committee’s decision to fix the minimum wage until 2027 contradicts the spirit and philosophy of Article 52 of the Labor Law, which stipulates that the minimum wage should be reviewed periodically to ensure its alignment with inflation rates and the cost of living.
At the same time, the Watch criticized the tripartite committee’s decision to exclude non-Jordanian workers in the garment sector, domestic workers, gardeners, and cooks from the decision to raise the minimum wage, considering this a clear discrimination against them and would create a situation of unfair competition between Jordanian and non-Jordanian workers, deepening the imbalances in the labor market.
It demanded that the new increase should be applied to all workers in the private sector and those to whom the Labor Law applies, regardless of the type of sectors in which they work or their nationalities.
The Jordanian Labor Watch warned that improving wages fairly enhances the sense of justice and fairness among citizens, reduces the gaps between social classes, alleviates social inequality, and leads to more stable and resilient societies in the face of crises.
Raising the minimum wage to fair levels also pushes the economy forward by improving demand for local consumption, which in turn contributes to boosting economic growth rates and supporting the sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises, which depend on the local market for their sales, the Watch noted.
