Less than half of Jordanians satisfied with their income, poll suggests

AMMAN — Less than half of Jordanians are satisfied with their income and their families' income, saying their salaries are too low, according to an opinion poll whose results were announced on Wednesday.

Results of the poll, which had a sample of 1,200 individuals from the country’s 12 governorates, indicated that 43.6 per cent of the respondents said their own or their family’s income is either low or too low, 19.2 per cent said their salaries are either good or too good, while 37.2 per cent said their income is fair.

Conducted by the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, the poll addressed Jordanians' satisfaction with the Kingdom's economic situation, personal and family income, prices of commodities, purchasing power and job availability.

According to the poll, 57.5 per cent of respondents said the economic situation in the country in 2016 has been either bad or too bad, compared to only 15.5 per cent who described it as excellent.

However, 55 per cent of the polled sample projected that the economic situation in 2017 will be worse than in 2016.

As for prices of commodities and services, 88.6 per cent of the surveyed sample said prices are either high or too high, while only 2.5 per cent said prices are low or too low.

Of the total respondents, 60.9 per cent said prices of commodities increased in 2016 compared to last year, and 67.2 per cent expect further high in next year.

Regarding the citizens’ capability to purchase basic commodities, 39.9 per cent of respondents said they can hardly afford to, while 18 per cent said they can.

On job availability, 71.5 per cent of respondents said finding job opportunities these days is unlikely, and only 3.1 per cent said jobs are available,

Of the total respondents, 59.5 per cent said finding job opportunities will be more difficult in 2017.

Phenix Centre Director Ahmad Awad said this poll is conducted regularly to provide indicators for policymakers, researchers and citizens on conditions in Jordan and expectations.