...British officials say that the Syrian refugees are likely to spend 5-10 years in Jordan. Yet offering them jobs is sensitive in a country such as this, where the unemployment rate is above 14% (and almost twice that for women). It would also feed the perception that immigrants are an economic burden on host countries. “We have a joke here,” says a local businessman who supports giving jobs to refugees: “The Egyptian is cleaning, the Syrian is selling, the Iraqi is buying, and the Jordanian is watching.”

To assuage such fears, Jordan hopes to attract new foreign investment to take advantage of its access to Europe’s market. Companies including Asda, a British subsidiary of Walmart, an American retailer, and IKEA, a Swedish home-furnishing store, have flown to Jordan to take a look...