‘I don’t see my future in Jordan’: GAGE evidence on young people’s economic empowerment in Jordan

Although the World Bank (2024a) notes that Jordan’s economy has shown ‘remarkable resilience in maintaining stability and growth in the face of regional and global crises’, the country remains off-track to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 5 (gender equality). This is because economic growth remains stubbornly low, unemployment (especially youth unemployment) remains stubbornly high, and women’s access to the labour market remains marginal compared to men’s (Sachs et al., 2023; see also World Bank, 2024b).

This report aims to contribute to policy debates about how to lift the economic trajectories of young people living in Jordan. It draws on mixed-methods data collected in 2022 and 2023 by the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) research programme. Designed to build on baseline findings from research conducted in 2018 and 2019, surveys were undertaken with nearly 3,000 Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian adolescents and young adults living in Jordan.

Suggested citation

Presler-Marshall, E., Jones, N. Luckenbill, S., Alheiwidi, S., Baird, S. and Oakley, E. (2024) ‘I don’t see my future in Jordan’: GAGE evidence on young people’s economic empowerment in Jordan. Report. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (https://www.gage.odi.org/publication/i-dont-see-my-future-in-jordan-gage-evidence-on-young-peoples-economic-empowerment-in-jordan/)