Nayrouz News Agency : Labour Minister Nidal Bataineh on Friday extended greetings to Jordan’s workforce on the occasion of Labour Day, marked on May 1.

On the occasion, Bataineh affirmed the continuity of the Labour Ministry’s commitment to take decisions to provide protection and stability for labourers, assert their rights and ensure equal opportunities in the workplace, according to a ministry statement made available to The Jordan Times on Friday.

"Labourers continue to perform their work competently and efficiently in various fields amid the coronavirus pandemic, risking their lives,” Bataineh said in the statement.

"We pledge to you, as the Ministry of Labour, to pursue efforts to harmonise our capabilities and human resource capacities with job opportunities, protection, social security, justice and decent employment,” the minister said.

Economist Husam Ayesh told The Jordan Times on Saturday over the phone that labourers are the first to be affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

 

"It is a hard situation,” he said, noting that 45 per cent of the nation’s workforce are daily wage workers and 60 per cent of labourers in Jordan work in the private sector, which is currently suspended with some entities resuming work at minimum capacity.

"Jordan has gone a long way in guaranteeing social security for its people,” Ayesh said, stressing that the Kingdom has "done its best” in light of its economic capacities.

However, he said, economic management "should be improved” in order to anticipate economic crises, such as the current one.

"Things have taken a downward turn due to the pandemic,” Mai Badr, a Jordanian working in the pharmaceutical sector, told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

"In all countries, the future of our jobs is uncertain, so Labour Day is an occasion to

voice our concerns, especially in times that are filled with challenges,” she said.