The Effect of skills on Industrial Development in Jordan

The study addresses skills in the manufacturing sector and theis effect on the productivity of labor during the period 1999-2001 across twenty industrial  .establishments.               

The Labor_skill classification adopted in this study followed the un published professional classification of Dos and VTC programs.

The objective of the study is to show the effect of sector. The quantitative cause-effect factors on labor productivity include skill level, education and fixed capital formation. In addition, the study investigates the quantitative effect of each skill level on gross value added in the manufacturing sector.

 The study reached the following conclusions:

1-Manufacturing is focus of the comprehensive economic development process which includes industrial development, and to achieve that, there should be a developed industrial sector that contributes subestantially to the gross domestic product .

2-Annual average growth of VA at current prices in the industrial sector was 9.8% for the period 1980 _ 2000 compared to 10.5% for the manufacturing sector.

3-The industrial sector ranked first among the goods sectors in terms of contripution to GDP (17.1%).

4-The study showed that there is a significant relationship between labor productivity and both education and FCF.

5-The study showed that the relationship between VA and skill level, specialist, skilled and limited skill were both positive and significant. However, for skill levels technician and vocational the relationship were insignificant because their numbers were relatively low.

The study arrived at the following recommendations:

1-The official institutions must lead the process of skill planning and find suitable techniques to predict supply and demand of skills in order to increase the number of workers in accordance with their different skill levels and distribute them to achieve comprehensive development.

2-The development of the industrial sector requires equal developments in technical education developments and VTCs vocetional and technical programs.

3-It was not possible to find a suitable classification for the workers in the industrial sector within the general structure of the skills hierarchy . Therefore, it is imperative to place every worker in the correct and suitable skill level class according to what is dictated by international and arabic classification standards .

4-scientific an technological developments , necessitates the establishment of new instituations specialized in such areas .

5-It is useful to benefit from international experiences that are suitable to the national economy in the fields of planning , skill development , education and vocational training that provides qualified workers to achieve comprehensive economic development .