Jordan

Publications

Situation and Priorities

Social protection situation

The provision of Social Protection (SP) in Jordan involves a multiplicity of national and international actors, covering a comprehensive set of programs, from cash transfer schemes to subsidies, tax exemptions, social services, and employment and skills development.

  • The National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) 2019-2025, articulates the Government’s priority to expand the protection framework to those threatened by poverty, thereby ensuring a “dignified life, decent work environment and empowering social services.” The launch of the Strategy in 2019 marked an important inflection point in the evolution of Jordan’s social protection sector, with an emphasis on improved targeting, strengthened institutional capacity, and enhanced coordination.
  • The National Aid Fund (NAF),  is the main social assistance facility in the Kingdom and provides regular cash and in-kind assistance to approximately 220,000 Jordanian households living below the poverty line or people with disabilities, as well as one-off payments in emergencies. Refugees and other non-national citizens are not eligible for NAF support and mostly depend on assistance provided by international agencies, like UNHCR, WFP and UNRWA.
  • The Zakat Fund, under the Ministry of Awaqaf Islamic Affairs and Holy Places, is another important source of social assistance in the Kingdom. It provides cash and in-kind assistance to approximately 58,000 of households/individuals per year who are not recipients of any other form of regular social assistance. In principle, both nationals and foreigners are entitled to benefit from the Zakat Fund.
  • The Social Security Corporation (SSC) is the national institution responsible for the administration of social insurance and it covers approximately 65% percent of the labour force. The Social Security Law applied to all formal workers recognized under the Labour Law and makes no distinction based on nationality, status or gender, enabling the inclusion of refugees and migrant workers. Despite the inclusive regulatory framework, some concerns remain regarding coverage and adequacy. High levels of informality are persistent, with informal workers accounting for approximately 40 percent of the labour force, and reduced benefits packages targeting certain typologies of workers are important matters to address in light of the ILO international standards and the social protection floor aspiration.
Informality in Fragile Context

Jordan has hosted subsequent waves of displaced populations since its establishment as a State in 1946. As of 2023, there were over 670,000 Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, alongside some 83,270 non-Syrian refugees and over 2 million Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA. With limited fiscal space to provide tax financed social assistance, and diminishing levels of humanitarian assistance, Jordan has taken steps to accommodate Syrian refugees within its Social Security System, alongside a growing number of informal Jordanian workers. After the February 2023 earthquake that ravaged Southern Turkey and Northwest Syrian, prospects for return are even more limited for Syrians in Jordan.

In June 2022, the ILO and Social Security Corporation launched the Estidama++ Fund aimed to extend social security to vulnerable groups of workers. The fund provides phased contribution subsidies to self-employed and waged workers and a contribution reward, with priority for women and refugees in the first phase of applications. As of February 2023, the fund has reached 3,000 workers, with an ultimate objective to reach more than 20,000 by 2025. 

COVID-19 and other crises

After registering the first COVID-19 cases, the government set up 10 emergency response teams to cope with the crisis, including a social protection Committee.

The relatively mature national social protection systems provided a good platform to rapidly extend support to some of the most in need and invest additional resources to ensure greater adequacy of benefits vis-a-vis the crisis. This dual strategy enabled vertical and horizontal expansion, acting simultaneously in four key areas:

  1. expanding the number of beneficiaries of existing schemes;
  2. increasing the benefit size of existing schemes for a limited duration of time;
  3. establishing new temporary schemes to provide income support to particular segments of the population under the specific crisis; and
  4. setting up mechanisms (both contributory and non-contributory) to ensure reaching out to informal workers.

Through the Daily Wage Workers program, by July 2020, NAF was able to provide emergency support to approximately 250,000 new beneficiaries with an estimated total budget of USD 118 Million, and increase the benefit size of 38,000 of their regular beneficiaries’ households (up to USD 26 Million). In-kind assistance for the most vulnerable was provided by the Zakat Fund and other programs, in the total estimated value of USD 24.5 Million, and financed by multiple sources, including by 50 percent of the revenues of the SSC’s Maternity Insurance Fund.

SSC adopted both an adaptive approach, when using maternity and unemployment insurance reserves to finance emergency support, but also an innovative approach, when using the crisis as an opportunity for the extension of coverage of social security to informal workers and formalization of labour. By July 2020, approximately 14,000 workers and 3,000 enterprises benefited from Tadamon 2 and joined the social security system. In total, benefits provided protection to 963,000 workers and support 38,000 businesses.

Government and social partner priorities
  • Implement the NSPS towards a more comprehensive social protection system, which in turn contributes to reduce poverty and enhance resilience and ability of citizens to cope with shocks throughout the life cycle.
  • Improve data quality and availability. Ensure that high-quality evidence is available to inform policy-making and reform.
  • Enhance coordination and compatibility between contributory and non-contributory systems. Reduce adverse incentives and facilitate transition from social assistance to social insurance.
  • Promote extension of coverage of social security to uncovered workers, including informal workers.
  • Conduct legal reforms that ensure both greater affordability for most vulnerable workers and sustainability of the social security system.
  • Introduce a health insurance scheme in the social security broader system.
  • Ensure the social protection system is shock-responsive. It might be appetite to explore the adoption of a life-cycle approach with the provision of minimum floors for all as a way of ensuring greater shock-responsiveness.
  • Rollout health insurance for private sector workers, pensioners and their families, under the Social Security Corporation.

ILO Projects and Programmes

Results

Funding gaps / Support the ILO

US$ 5,000,000

Contribution subsidies and incentives help transition greater number of vulnerable workers into social security

Impact: N° of persons effectively covered (related SDG 1.3.1) - 30,000 workers
US$ 1,000,000

Implementation of the National Social Protection Strategy

Support the ILO

Multimedia

ILO Experts

IMG
Luca Pellerano
Senior Specialist, Social Security
IMG
Jullnar Al Kurdi
National Project Coordinator
IMG
Rana Al-Ansari
National Project Coordinator
IMG
Hanadi Ahmad Sari Al-Gharaibeh
National Programme Coordinator
Fernando Martinez Cure
Project Manager and Social Protection Specialist
Natali Nustas
Admin and Finance Asst
IMG
Chantal Sirisena
Social Protection Officer