The 2025 National Report on Digital Skills, launched by the Digital Skills Association within the Youth, Technology & Jobs project, reopens a highly sensitive file in the path of Jordanian economic transformation. It concerns the gap between educational outputs and labor market needs in the information technology and communications sector. This report gains its importance not only from its title or the entity issuing it but from its timing, at a moment when digital transformations are accelerating globally, and the space for partial improvisations and temporary solutions is shrinking.
The report starts with a scientific analysis of the supply and demand for digital skills, revealing a clear gap between the skills youth possess and the competencies the market demands for immediate employment in software development, data analysis, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. However, a careful reading of the report results shows that the problem is deeper than just a lack of specific technical skills; it reflects a structural imbalance in the skill production system, from education to training, up to the workplace itself.
On the supply side, higher education and technical institutions still operate according to curricula that are predominantly theoretical, with a real limitation on applied learning, periodic updates of the content, and integration with the rapid changes in technology. On the professional training front, despite the variety of programs, it often remains fragmented, short-term, and not integrated into clear professional pathways. On the demand side, there emerges a parallel gap, where companies demand advanced skills and ready-made experience, without corresponding investments in training during employment or professional rehabilitation programs.
Comparing the situation in Jordan with that in developing countries, we find that the challenges are quite similar. In many of these countries, the skill gap is reduced to unemployment figures, without regard to the quality of skills or their ability to be updated. The relationship between education and the labor market remains weak, characterized more by protocol than as a genuine productive partnership. However, the comparison with advanced countries reveals a fundamental difference in approach, not just capabilities. Those countries do not treat skills as a final output of education, but as a continuous process that starts at school, is honed in university, and updated in the labor market. Moreover, the private sector there is an integral partner in designing curricula, accreditation, and training, not just a beneficiary of the outcomes.
In this context, the Jordanian report is credited for being within a national participatory framework led by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, in integration with the Youth, Technology & Jobs project, and with the participation of key stakeholders such as ICT Association of Jordan - intaj. However, the real value of the report will not be measured by the quality of the diagnosis alone, but by its ability to actually transform policies and practices.
Overcoming the skills gap requires moving from the logic of general recommendations to the logic of comprehensive redesign. Redesigning curricula based on competencies, linking academic accreditation with realistic employment indicators, and expanding models of applied education and project-based learning are all essential steps. Conversely, the private sector must be held accountable for its role in skill-building, not just demanding it.
Ultimately, the report confirms that the skills gap in Jordan is not an isolated technical problem, but a mirror reflecting our way of thinking about education, work, and development. The question that should remain after the publication of this report is not: How big is the gap? But: Do we possess the institutional will to move from diagnosing it to radically addressing it, and building a competitive regional and global skill system, not just filling temporary gaps in a rapidly changing market?
