Jordanian Minister for Labour HE Samir Murad Speaks at Wilton Park Event on Youth Unemployment in the Levant alongside Young Jordanian Entrepreneurs

Wilton Park, with the support of the WANA Institute, has gathered 50 experts from 13 countries in Jordan from 16 to 18 October to address the employment challenges currently facing young people in the Levant region. The region has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world, standing in Jordan, for example, at 24 per cent for males and 47 per cent for females.

Jordanian Minister for Labour, HE Samir Murad, addressed participants and discussed the barriers to employment currently facing young people in the Levant. He spoke alongside young entrepreneurs and business-owners from the region, as they sought solutions to the youth unemployment crisis.

The event provided a platform for young people to suggest solutions to the crisis and to find ways for governments in the region to respond to the challenges they face. Senior policy makers, academics, government officials, local NGOs and international organisations attended the event.

“Youth employment is one of the most pressing global challenges of our time," Alison Hilliard, Programme Director at Wilton Park, said. "Responding to this challenge is critical in the Levant where over 60 per cent of the population is under thirty and where long term stability, prosperity and peace depends on young people and securing their future.”

The conference was the fifth event in the Wilton Park Youth Dialogues series. This event comes ahead of the UK-Jordan Summit in London in 2019, which is being organised by the UK Department for International Development, following agreement between HM King Abdullah II of Jordan and UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The conference will rally the international community and private sector around creating quality jobs for Jordanians, particularly young people and women.

This event was organised by Wilton Park in partnership with Mercy Corps, the Asfari Foundation, with support from the WANA Institute, the Institute of Development Studies and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).