Figure 8: Gender Equality Gender Equality Female Participation Rate, 2012 Rank of Selected Countries eililtitidil Rank of Selected Countries ni teteardl Gender Inequality Index, 2013 ‘Source: UNDP, World Bank According to the macroeconomic model that has been used as part of the development of Jordan 2025 this vision, increasing female participation rate in Jordan to the MENA average (from 15% to 27% over the next decade) would have major positive impacts on economic growth in Jordan, by at least 5% by 2025. Achieving better workforce participation and retention rates would not only drive growth and raise household prosperity, but would accelerate improvements in the nation’s finances by increasing the number of tax-paying workers in the formal sector. This would also help to fund social security programs for the less privileged and improve government services in all governorates of the Kingdom. 1.1.5 Employment Although strong growth in key sectors has driven significant employment creation on the demand side over the past decade, many of the newly created jobs are being filled by low-cost, low-skilled foreign workers instead of Jordanians. An estimated 658,000 foreign workers work in Jordan, nearly two-thirds of work in the informal sector. Foreign workers are most present in construction, agriculture and manufacturing (41%, 38%, 37% of respective sector workforces), which are also three of the fastest-growing sectors outside the public sector. While the presence of cheaper foreign labour enhances the competitiveness of several key sectors of Jordan’s economy, it also puts downward pressure on the wages of Jordanians in those sectors. This has historically added to the ‘culture of shame’ that some jobs available in the private sector are not suitable for Jordanians, which has led many Jordanians instead to seek out the better paid and more secure opportunities that have been made available in the public sector. As the National Employment Strategy highlighted, if we manage to encourage Jordaniansto enter and remain in the workforce, the next challenge will be creating more jobs and improving labour market mechanisms that help young people to find available job opportunities. However, typical labour market mechanisms that exist in healthy and productive economies are largely absent or dysfunctional in Jordan today- replaced instead by non-institutional job hunting methods. There is a need to develop a dynamic and transparent labour market on both the supply and demand sides. The Ministry of Labour has recently started to develop mechanisms and organize employment campaigns to bridge the existing gap. These efforts should be supported and institutionalized to develop active labor market policies. Several sectors face a supply and demand mismatch. In healthcare, for example, Jordanian universities currently produce 3,500 medical and nursing graduates each year, while Higher Education Strategy estimates indicate that only 1,300 new medical professionals are hired by Jordan's domestic healthcare industry each year. This suggests that the supply of doctors and nurses is almost three times the level of demand. W535 ee