Syrian Refugee Unit Work Permit Progress Report November 2017

Introduction

This report was compiled by the Ministry of Labour’s (MoL) Syrian Refugee Unit (SRU) and will provide the following:

• Total work permits issued to Syrian refugees.

• Disaggregation of work permit data by gender, type of permit, and location.

• Camp-specific work permit issuances.

Highlights

• A new Memo was issued on November 13, 2017 to simplify the procedures for Syrian refugees enabling them to move from one employer to another and from sector to another once their work permits expire without the previous employer’s clearance.

• 6038 WPs were issue in November with an increase of 22% compared to last month average as 4,938 WPs were issued in October 2017, a significant increase in the monthly rate and largely keeping with the trend begun last month. The average number of permits issued per month over the course of the first eleven months of 2017 is roughly 3698. The increase in monthly issuances has been driven mainly by Ministry of Labour Syrian Refugee Unit -- Monthly Progress Report the construction and agriculture sectors, with 2,697 and 2,208 permits issued respectively.

• Though the overall number of work permits is comparable to last year, more Syrians are obtaining permits in the agriculture sector, 18,316 in 2017 compared to 10,480 in 2016. This 75 % increase may be attributable to the flexible work permits issued through the cooperatives. The Number of WP issued under the Cooperatives since the decision was out up to November 30, 2017 is 28,064.

• The number of WP issued under the umbrella of the General Federation of Jordanian trade unions (GFJTU) since the decision was out up to November 30, 2017 is 3872.