Entrepreneurship and Youth Unemployment in Jordan
The youth unemployment rate in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is three times higher than the global average. Both the Jordanian government and international organizations have promoted entrepreneurship programs as a potential avenue to alleviate youth unemployment, hoping to turn “job seekers” into “job creators.” This research analyzes the entrepreneurship environment in Jordan, identifies major problems and challenges within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and evaluates the potential of entrepreneurship to impact youth unemployment.
The findings are critical of entrepreneurship as a mechanism for both economic development and job creation. In the end, it recommends that Jordan shift away from entrepreneurship and focus primarily on the root causes of unemployment, developing a grand strategy to guide the actions of key sectors and stakeholders. It also explores how the entrepreneurship ecosystem can be improved through clearly defining the roles of domestic and international actors.
