I am an average person but soon I will be gone.
This is a thought that haunts me night and day. Whatever will happen to me, and the many many likes of me, when the final and ruling word has been spoken in Jordan, separating its people into two distinctive straits?
Try buying a car. Assuming the original price of the vehicle is 6,000 JD, you would be compelled to put in a rough estimate of 9,000 JD for customs. Add around 1,000 for registration and you will be paying 16,000 JD for an item that really costs 6,000. Thats almost triple the original value and for some reason I am missing the jest.
Try buying a 32 JD mobile card, and you will be forced to actually pay 37 JD. The extra five are the face of the all-famous-budget-munching-16%-sales tax.
Try buying clothes. Not only do you hardly find something that doesnt have an opening somewhere (a must-have) or a see-through-me nature, as if nobody in Jordan wants to really wear something, but you will also have to pay a minimum of 20 JD for a pair of pants. Quality not guaranteed, mind you, and you will have to do with more than one pair of pants, wont you? Some math, lets say you want to buy a nice outfit comprised of three pieces: pants, shirt, shoes. And lets pretend you land yourself a good deal and get each item for around 20 JD, thats a total of 60 JD for the wardrobe.
Now imagine you had to live on a 200 JD salary.
Try filling up the car. Thats about 50 JD a month if youre out and about every day. If you dont have a car, try using taxis to take you places. Thats a minimum of 1 JD per drive, by 2-3 drives each day on the length of a month, and you got yourself an amazing 90 JD every month for transportation. And I am not even inflating anything.
Try going out, for a change. You will have to dig in that fat purse of yours (and we know its full of business cards) to produce at least 30 JD for a decent lunch for two. Try going out three times a month and youll pay for it dearly: 90 JD. Too much? Go to cheaper places, youll still invest too much in food and company.
Try it again now. Imagine you had to live on a 200 JD salary.
The most upsetting reactions one gets when making this argument are the suggestions not to live large. To those comments I would like to say: hello? When was buying decent clothes, seeing friends, and getting around town to go to work large? Or is that just your way of dismissing the problem? It wont do.
People are entitled to live decently. I would imagine minimum decency requirements include living a normal life, like normal people.
shoo live large ma live large,what you mentioned are mostly prioriteis not accesories.I know what you mean…really ,when I feel bad about myself I think of others..allah y3een el naas really..some are unemployed and some support a family of six with 100 jds income or less..
Tololy, Never mind the Car, Clothes or Any other “Accessory” that some might find extra, lets talk Food, Rent, Electricity Bills, Phone Bills, Water Bills and Insane amount of Taxes That our beloved government keeps adding on and on on the poor citizen to the extent that the only thing left that isn’t taxes is the air we breath, 200 JD isn’t nearly enough to keep up with the most basic needs of an avertage family let alone buy a car… inface if i am not mistaken 200 JD’s is just a tiny bit above the poverty line in Jordan.
Reading about this is like reading about the story of my life. Well, over here in Slovenia, since it joined the EU, prices have risen to EU standards faster than salaries. My salary isn’t bad.The thing is that I got sick of renting flats and never knowing when my landlord was going to decide that I had to move out because he needed the flat for his, son, daughter, nephew or dog….and so after saving up for 6 years, working like crazy, I managed to save half the money for a nice 2-room flat…the other half I got on a bank loan, which I will be paying back for 9 more years… The payments are just over a third of my salary… after paying bills, I’m left with nothing. So I do tutoring and translations on the side. I’m used to it though. My parents weren’t rich, so I had to work to get to and pay for uni.
It’s not all bad though… True, I can’t even think of owning a car in my situation and with gas prices here, but I make do with public transport or walk… You get used to it. I just learn to have fun in less expensive ways. Like instead of meeting up with friends at a restaurant, I’ll invite them over and cook them up some fun stuff. Not today though…put some money aside and meeting a friend for brunch (everyone needs a treat once in a while).
Cheers,
Beti
Tololy,
I think you and I, and everyone else who’s reading this, will agree that JD200 is no longer a sufficient salary even for the fresh graduate out of college.
Because of that, I believe people in Jordan should stop saying things like “imagine you had to live on a JD200 salary”. As long as people in Jordan keep saying that, employers in Jordan are going to assume that they are still willing to accept that salary, so they will have less reason to think that they need to improve the offers they give.
The alternative is to talk about the costs (just as you did in this post), but without mentioning of the current bad situation of average salaries in the country. Talking about rising costs sets the mood for increasing salaries, but talking about a sad current reality that we have to deal with doesn’t encourage the mood for change.
I say this because there is this new big and far reaching dialogue that is going on among Jordanians, both young and old, on the internet and Jordanian blogs are right in the middle of it. The more we stop talking about JD200 salaries, the more other people are gonna start treating them as a thing of the past or something that is no longer realistic and acceptable, and the more employers are gonna have a hard time pushing them in their offers to their prospective employees.
What I’m talking about by no mean can be the way to change things in Jordan, they can only be changed by actions, but I believe it certainly is a way to at least set the mood right for people to start taking the necessary actions to facilitate positive change.
I understand all that, I am living all of it, and I seem to accept it ..(yeah,.. like I have a choice) , there is one thing though that I don’t really seem to get about the phone and electricity bills ..
it says in the details: 1 JD for TV ( what is this ? are they charging us for watching TV ?)
and what the hell is “Fils El-Reef” ??????
the “writers of the bill” don’t really seem to be very innovative .. according to the “Extra Tax” that is included with the bill !!! I guess they ran out of names !!!
.. and 4 JD’s subscribtion fees evey damn month ?!!..c’mon !! my entire monthly phone calls don’t cost that much !!!!
bottom line.. all of that means one thing: u got a phone line? u will pay 10 JD’s wether u like it or not !
and oh, about the gas price thing .. don’t worry , the government intends to pay a stunning amount of 20 JD’s per person every 6 months as an effort to compensate !!!!!!!!!!! Maaaaaaaa aa aa aa 333333333 !!!
I could bitch about it all night long .. but I guess we all got sick of bitching about all the time, no ?
well allah ey3een el nas. i am a new mother of two (twin),me and my husband we both work,we have good salaries but god only knows how we get by till the end of the month.it is getting harder every day,and i really wonder how we will manage after 5 years if this goes on….so don’t tell me 200JD’s coz that is really impossible.
It’s been a while Tololy, but I’m here. :)
It always amazes me how people get by in Jordan, my family included. I don’t understand how people are supposed to get by on so little, with such high costs of absolutely everything. It causes me anxiety to think about the race people are constantly running, trying to get by, while still staying sane. I don’t see how we can hope for innovation and creativity in this kind of environment, and it concerns me..
I completely agree with Hamzeh N
Employers will be more than willing to suck blood out of employees and get away with it .. only if they let be
Change is about actions .. we need to stop talking about the issue and do something about it … Minimum wage must go above the mere JD 95; I mean who can live with that? some of the rich clan pay this much for one dinner so how is that fair?
I am not arguing that the rich should not enjoy their money; but the living standards of the poor must be upgraded so that we can all live in peace and harmony … give them enough to help them get by without having to borrow or think of stealing or fraud to get more money
Money is a means but with the current situation, many are considering money to be the end and being so, it justifies whatever means they are using ..
Great post Tololy
Eloquently said, now all we need is someone to listen.
leish ana min galeel 6afashit,,,,
i thought il will never leave Jordan! i thought it will get better,, but it didnt,,, and now,,, all my co-workers are considering abroad job offers,, even married ones
7aram!!
so does this mean ur salary now is 200JDs?? ;)
My family has been discussing all the recent development in Jordan including the increase in fuel and meat prices, among other things. If we even begin to consider moving back to Jordan all these issues are raised. How are people really living there with these kinds of pressures?! Obviously, they’re not “living”, they’re just getting by. What annoys me more about my fellow Jordanians (including close family members), is that they seem to think that these economic problems come from something outside the government apparatus! Many are afraid to admit that we have a very corrupt government that keeps bowing down to World Bank & IMF suggestions because our “deficit” keeps growing. Well, Hello! It’s growing because a small subsection of the population is benefitting hugely from investments coming from the outside, like the $5 Billion project in Aqaba. It’s really sad to see how much abuse Jordanians are willing to take. We protest a few times, then that’s it. I remember a year ago when fuel prices were increased in Yemen, thousands went out to protest and they were presistent enough in their condemnation that the government decided to increase governmnet employees’ salaries by a small percentage. Another problem is that most Jordanians feel that it’s a hopeless case to even think about bringing change to this abusive system.
Great post as usual Tololy, way to get us all ranting and raving! :)
Oh boy, it’s been quite a while since I thought about the salaries in Amman. Cost of living is almost the same wherever you go, but it is the low salaries that are the issue in Jordan. I just can’t see myself living a “decent” (by decent I mean a lower-middle class) life in Amman if I had a salary less than JD1,000 a month. If I ground myself home and only spend my month on a home-work-home routine, I’ll end up spending over JD200, without buying any clothes, or going out.
I’ve always had trouble with this minimum wage in Jordan. I think it was only 75JD a few years ago. I see you didn’t talk about going to BK and the movies. That could easily set you back ~40JD for four people.
But I think that if cars were cheap (value, no taxes) then every family would have 1 or 2. That is all we need to add to the current bad situation in Jordan. The roads are pathetic and add more cars and it only gets worse. I am not sure if they have income taxes in Jordan, but I pay almost 1/3 of my salary in the US to Uncle Bush….well not to him directly but for the police, fire, the poor public transportation, the universities, and the list goes on and on. But you are still able to save some of your salary. But then again, with 30 year mortage for your house, 5 years of car payments are you really saving anything in the end. There are only two things guarenteed in life, taxes and death.
Very true, I agree with every word you mentioned.
- Poverty line in Jordan is set at JD 6,000 per annum. Apply for coupons Tololy, work from home to save on transport (open a dokaneh in your family’s garage for example), sew your own clothes. Just a few suggestions.
- We now officially live in a country club, not a country. Everything you order is going to be added to your bill, over and above your annual subscription. Want a passport? Enroll, it costs JD 15,000 (if you are an investor for example).
JORDAN FIRST! YEAH BABY!
ok My Salary is more than 200 Per Month and I do the following
I don’t have a car, and I’m not intending to buy one.
I change my mobile occasionly, of course I only buy cheap ones.
I buy clothes occasionly, every 3 months, and I head to Ras El 3ain to but them.
regarding going out, I always suggest walking, and buying coffee from the man at the corner, and I enjoy going to free shows, and cheap ones.
And I can barely manage.
I remember those days when my salary was 200, of course I wasn’t alive.
I really dont believe that a job would provide you with a decent living. Yet a private business would do the trick (giving that you have a good concept and a good location, both scarce I know). Do you want to know the secret behind the wealth of the upper class in Jordan? Opening a business or immigrating. I don’t think that an annual income of JD6,000++ would be even remotely close to sufficient for a couple (seriously, that would be about JD250++ per person). One needs at least JD700++ (per month) to have a decent life in Jordan.
-50JD Gas for car.
-150JD for payments (car payments, apartment rent, etc.).
-200JD for food (This wouldn’t include dining out).
-100JD for Bills.
-100JD for Personal pocket money (Clothes, personal hygiene products, accessories for your house, Books, Magazine subscriptions).
-100 JD for hanging out (that is if you want to go out once a week, 25JD would barely be enough if you want to hang out).
So I have a new plan! yes a complete new budget!
-Carpool. Share your car with other 3 friends. Or rent a Horse to ride on, or simply get a nice Donkey.
-Rent? who needs to live under a roof! crash at a different place every day, or simply camp at the university main gate, that way you save up on transportation fees and also you no longer need to live in a warm nice place!
-Food; c’mon what has happened to dieting?! Plus being an anorexic is in fashion people! (even for guys, Dennis Quaid was an anorexic!). If that’s not a viable choice, then I strongly suggest Hashem as your daily intake for food.
-As for bills, and if you do own the luxury of living in an apartment. Well, you can subsribe to the Amish Weekly and learn on how to adapt with no electricity or water or anything, better yet, maybe the government wants to create a nation of Edisons; that take necessity as a mother of inventions. Invent something! Hint? soak an old table cloth in Kerosen and light it up, oh, but with the skyrocketing petrol prices that wouldn’t be economic at all, I say start collecting candles!
-Pocket money. Bathe in public restrooms or any of Amman’s wide assortment of public lakes (el shogoul abadan mish 3eib people), Own only one pair of pants, shirt and shoes, and whenever they do wear off, well souk il jom3a is booming! or shop from your father/mother wardrobe! And aslan as my grandfather used to say, reading is a waste of time, so who needs to read books?!
There you go! now you can only spend JD50++ this way! Great deal, no?
While & after reading this post, although I can live & feel your words, but Its hard to an expatriate, like me, to come & live in Jordan. Thats so sad! I see here in Dubai hundreds of qualified Jordanian people. Why not these people to build their country and live in the place they like.