Persons with Disabilities: Labour Market Perceptions Survey Jordan

Persons with disabilities are employed at lower rates than the general population in Arab countries. Most Arab countries have made efforts to include persons with disabilities in their labour markets, however the gap persists and employers still have negative attitudes towards them. This cannot be explained by persons with disabilities being unable or unwilling to work. Rather, there are several barriers that prevent them from accessing employment opportunities. To study these barriers, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) conducted a survey, in 2021, of 69 public and private sector employers of varying sizes and from different sectors in Jordan to identify their perceptions of the factors that hinder the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market.

The present policy brief provides an outlook of employers’ perceptions of employing persons with disabilities in Jordan. It reveals that employers have attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder persons with disabilities from participating equally in the labour market.