Haider Freihat, the Director General of the Department of Statistics, stated on Monday that the number of those registered with the Social Security Corporation cannot be compared to the numbers of newly created job opportunities.
Freihat explained through "Al-Mamlaka" that social security does not guarantee an individual's continued employment, and a person might be registered with social security but not actually working, while the Department of Statistics adopts different criteria for calculating job opportunities.
He confirmed that the Department of Statistics does not possess numbers related to job permanence, noting that someone who works for only one week is still counted as an employment opportunity according to international standards and criteria.
The Department of Statistics reported that the net new job opportunities created in the first half of 2025 reached 48,400, based on the results of labor market surveys conducted by the department, which divides the year into two halves.
Freihat clarified that the measurement of new job opportunities is conducted through two separate surveys, each covering a sample of 50,000 households in each half of the year, totaling 100,000 households visited during the year. Based on this data, the net new job opportunities are calculated.
He indicated that the announcement of the job opportunity figures for the entire year of 2025 will be made after the end of the second half of the year, explaining that the department then conducts its internal calculations, with the results to be announced at the beginning of the first month of 2026.
Regarding the calculation mechanism, Freihat explained that survey teams visit households and ask each member if they have obtained a job. If they are working, it is verified whether the job is new during the survey period or if they have been in it for a previous period. If the job is old, it is excluded from the sample; however, if it was obtained during the same half of the year, it is queried whether the job is a replacement for a previous job or if it is acquired for the first time.
He affirmed that the announced number reflects the count of Jordanians who have obtained new jobs for the first time during the first half of the year, emphasizing that the Department of Statistics bases its measurements on declarations made by the job holders themselves from the households, not on company data.
