Invisible Workers
Jordan's economy depends on thousands of migrant laborers who clean, build, and harvest—but most aren't officially counted. When a government jobs portal launched to track employment, these workers were absent. The data, and therefore the policies, simply ignored them.
Human Impact
Without numbers, there were no benefits, no safety nets. When COVID-19 struck, many lost wages overnight and could not access aid. A missing row in a spreadsheet became an empty pantry.
What Went Wrong
Understanding the root causes helps us prevent similar failures in the future.
Surveys required digital IDs and stable addresses; informal workers had neither. The system equated invisibility with non-existence, reinforcing a cycle of exclusion.
No one paused to ask who the dataset forgot.
Ethical Reflection
Data justice begins with presence. Ethical governance demands counting every contributor, not only those easiest to measure.
Chart-Ed Connection
Embodies DLL 8 (Correlate variables with context) through DLL 14 (National Systems Thinking). It reminds policymakers that evidence without empathy builds fragile economies.
Teaching Prompt
Design a survey that reaches informal workers. Which DLL principles ensure inclusion and dignity?
Build Better Data Practices
The Chart-Ed Initiative for Global Data Literacy provides standards and frameworks to prevent these failures.