Dispatches from the Middle East:“Time is like a Sword”

“Time is like a sword—if you don’t cut it, it will cut you,” Mo’ath, a Jordanian college student, said as he ate with his right hand from a plate of Mansaf, a combination of grilled lamb, herbs, yoghurt, rice and nuts.

From Beirut, Lebanon to Irbid, Jordan, where Mo’ath is pondering his job prospects after graduation, “Time is like a sword…” is an Arabic proverb heard often in Middle East classrooms. Its meaning and lesson cut across borders and cultures: “Use what little time you have wisely.”

Time is a precious commodity in Irbid, a town near the Syrian border spread along the northern ridge of the mountainous Gilead region, an area where Jordan’s economy benefits from a strong cultural work ethic.

Mo’ath personifies this northern Jordanian work ethic. He attends computer science classes at Aal al-Bait College from the early morning to the mid-afternoon, spends the rest of the day working at Paradise, a small Jordanian grocery store an hour and a half away and reserves his weekends for studying for exams.

Like many young Jordanians, Mo’ath is pursuing a career in Information and Communications Technology, the fastest growing sector of Jordan’s economy. Developing a modern Internet infrastructure has been a priority for Jordan and this can be seen in Irbid, where the highest number of Internet cafes per capita can be found, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mo’ath is studying intensely for his upcoming computer science test. He plans to graduate in three months and wants to find a high-tech job in Amman. “I have to do well,” he says, acutely aware of the economic headwinds facing him.

Jordan’s economy grew 3.1 % this year and maintained positive per capita growth. Despite these advances, Jordan still has a 13.4% unemployment rate and its regional neighbors are also struggling with their unemployment rates (Iraq 15.5%, Syria 8.3%, Saudi Arabia 10.8% and Egypt 9.7%).

A recent International Monetary Fund study found that “Young people, ages 15 to 24, account for 40 percent or more of the unemployed in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, and nearly 60 percent in Syria and Egypt.”

In an Irbid college neighborhood, Mohammed works up to 60 hours a week at Gourmet, a “sweets” shop known for its variety of multi-layered cakes and fruit cocktails. Mohammed grew up in a medium-sized Irbid Palestinian family and obtained a paramedic degree from the Jordan University of Science and Technology, a large state school known as “Techno. “

Despite having a bachelor’s degree, Mohammed is unable to find work in his field because the paramedic jobs in Jordan require a master’s or a doctorate degree.

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Jordanian students must travel abroad for most graduate studies.  Israel has the only paramedic graduate program in the region. With the Jordanian government’s approval, a program was established last year with Israel’s Ben-Gurion University to teach Jordanian paramedic students side by side with Israeli students in both English and Arabic.

Mohammed hopes to enroll in a master’s program for preventive medicine and epidemiology at the University of Maryland. His goal is to find employment as a paramedic in one of Irbid’s five hospitals.

“American and European degrees lead to better jobs and benefits –and higher salaries,” Mohammed says.

Family plays a major role in job opportunities in Jordan. Although nepotism is bemoaned, it remains an accepted privilege. According to Mohammed, family networking is key. He knows five Jordanian cab drivers with master’s degrees in engineering and tourism that lost job opportunities to family members of their prospective bosses.

Rabi, Mohammed’s co-worker, comes from a small Palestinian family that migrated from Kuwait to Jordan after the first Gulf War. Despite having a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Yarmouk University, he hasn’t found work in his field since graduation. He attributes this to his lack of a master’s degree and a paucity of family connections. He also says that many older workers have been reluctant to retire due to the global financial crisis, limiting the jobs that would normally become available through attrition. Rabi plans to enroll in a master’s program in Europe, hoping to eventually work in one of Amman’s grand properties such as Le Royal Hotel.

The influx of  “expatriate” workers has affected employment prospects in Jordan also. The expatriate worker population is primarily composed of three groups: Iraqis, Egyptians, and Syrians. At the onset of the Iraqi war in 2003, two million Iraqi refugees settled in Syria and Jordan.  This wave of Iraqi refugees was initially a boost for Jordan’s economy. Incoming Iraqis possessed specialized skills that were in demand at the time. Now, they compete for too few jobs in a tougher economic climate.

Unemployment in the Middle East may soon grow worse according to the Carnegie Institute’s International Economic Bulletin: “In 2009, the region’s labor force totaled some 135 million workers. By 2020, it is expected to reach 185 million. This means that countries in the Middle East need to create 50 million jobs over the next 10 years or five million jobs per year, compared to an average of around three million jobs per year over the last 10 years.”

The youth unemployment rate in the Middle East “exceeds that of any other region in the world,” the International Monetary Fund wrote in its April 2011 regional outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia.

The Arab Spring has been as much about economics as it has been about politics. It has been led primarily by Arab youths seeking jobs and greater political freedoms. It started in Tunisia with the tragic self-immolation of unemployed 26-year-old street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi. Grass-root uprisings have since deposed autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

The Jordanian government has stepped up efforts to improve the employment prospects for young Jordanians before they become a “lost generation.” Leveling the playing field for job applicants, increasing initiatives for training to match education to the present needs of the private sector, and investing in infrastructure are proposals under consideration.

Mohammed is pragmatic about the diminishing time and opportunities to find employment as a paramedic in Jordan. “My family will spend a lot of money so that I can obtain a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. Things may be worse in the future as the job market becomes more competitive. There may be more jobseekers with graduate degrees when I return. I cannot waste my chance. Time is not a renewable resource, it only decreases.”