More youth opt for vocational training amid unemployment challenges — VTC chief

AMMAN — The demand for vocational training is increasing as more youth opt for non-traditional jobs, according to Director of Vocational Training Corporation (VTC) Ahmad Gharaybeh.

According to the Department of Statistics (DoS), 22.8 per cent of Jordanians are unemployed, of whom 30.5 per cent are females and 20.5 per cent are males. 

According to the DoS report, 52.3 per cent of unemployed Jordanians have high school degrees, bachelors or PhDs.

Additionally, 78.7 per cent of females holding bachelor’s degrees are unemployed, the DoS added.

“Almost 10,000 individuals graduate annually from VTC centres,” Gharaybeh told The Jordan Times. 

Gharaybeh added that over 60 per cent of their graduates are employed. 

“The percentage reaches over 90 per cent in some majors like hospitality and tourism,” he noted. 

Gharaybeh added that there are currently 1,941 university graduates studying at VTC institutions, noting that the VTC encourages unemployed university graduates to get vocational training, which will help them in the labour market. 

“Attending university and claiming a professional degree is not a measure of success,” Shatha Mustafa, a freelance interior designer, told The Jordan Times. 

She graduated from a university and found herself unhappy with her job. 

Shatha said that she got a degree to make her parents happy and “to fit in”. 

According to Shatha, the problem with traditional professions is that “they are not attractive anymore”. 

However, Suha, who preferred to go be her first name only, said that she quit her job at a beauty salon due to the “harsh working conditions”, including long shifts, unpaid overtime and no official days off.

“Jordanians are willing to work in vocational jobs if the ministry regulates them,” Suha told The Jordan Times. 

Dima Qudah, who quit her full-time job as a dentist to work as a tailor, said that she studied dentistry to make her parents “proud”, adding that she “wasted” five years of her life studying dentistry while she was always passionate about tailoring.

“I believe that employees go where money is,” Qudah told The Jordan Times.