Labour ministry supports private sector employment initiatives

AMMAN — The Ministry of Labour wants to build up a real partnership with the private sector as part of its endeavour to improve the living standard of citizens, Minister Ali Ghezawi said on Saturday. 

Speaking at a meeting with several Amman Chamber of Trade board members, he asserted the ministry’s support of employment initiatives targeting young unemployed people and working to assist them towards starting their own small business projects, according to a statement of the chamber. 

It is time to foster a culture of self-employment and encourage young people to establish their own small projects; thus they can become business owners rather than jobseekers, Ghezawi told the attendees, also comprising Social Security Corporation Director General Nadia Rawbdeh and the ministry’s secretary general, Farouq Hadidi. 

The ministry will take the commercial sector's remarks pertaining to labour legislation into consideration, in addition to those regarding training needs, he said, underscoring the importance that the ministry attaches to training initiatives that hone young people’s skills and lead to employment.

Ghezawi urged the private sector to pay more attention and make sure that the training initiatives reach out to young unemployed people outside Amman, especially those in remote areas which lack investment projects, highlighting the importance of enrolling in vocational and technical education.

He added that the ministry will also carry out inspection tours of business enterprises and make sure that they abide by the rules and regulations on hiring the required ratio of persons with disability.

Addressing the attendees, the chamber’s president, Issa Murad, highlighted the importance of adopting new procedures for commercial entities’ inspection.

Murad, who is also a senator, also stressed the need to raise business entities' awareness and provide them with guidelines on occupational hazards and safety standards, in lieu of issuing warnings or fines that end up with their closure. He also emphasised the importance of briefing them on work permit conditions.