Huda Jassim (Baghdad)
“I want my right to be appointed.” With this phrase, Huda Muhammad began her speech. Her colleagues, who are graduates of the University of Technology, one of the most prestigious universities in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, participated in several demonstrations, demanding job opportunities that would protect them from need while they were in the prime of life.
Hoda is one of thousands of unemployed people, including graduates of important universities, who have been waiting for years for an opportunity to be appointed in government departments, as many of them resorted to working in other than their specialization, but much less so in order to provide for himself and his family.
Huda asserts that she is now working from her home in teaching young students English for a very small amount to raise her only son after she separated from her husband.
The researcher in Iraqi political and economic affairs, Nabil Jabbar Al-Ali, asserts that despite the conflicting statistics regarding the unemployment rate in Iraq between international organizations and Iraqi official institutions, unemployment in Iraq undoubtedly has reached very high rates, and may be the highest during the past three decades. It is between 16-30% of the total workforce in Iraq.
Al-Ali said in statements to Al-Ittihad that “what is surprising and surprising is that Iraq has experienced an exceptional state of recovery and economic growth, as its oil revenues amounted to about 12 billion dollars per month during the past months, and the amount of monthly government spending exceeded 10 billion dollars, but this was not reflected. to improve other economic indicators, particularly poverty and unemployment.
Al-Ali pointed out that the existence of a clear defect in the country’s management, economy and resources, and the absence of justice in the distribution of wealth, all of this reflected negatively on the present and future of Iraq’s political, economic and social affairs.
In turn, the economic expert, Rami Jawad, warned of the consequences of the Iraqi government’s failure to reform a number of files, including the file of the unemployed.
Jawad told Al-Ittihad: “We will get used to seeing the demonstrations of the unemployed, as the population of Iraq is more than 40 million, while those qualified to enter the labor market are 9 million, and the unemployment rate among this group is about 25%, according to the latest report issued.” About the World Bank.
He stressed that “if the private sector is not promoted and the vocational education system reformed, we need a second country that owns 18 ministries to absorb the percentage of the unemployed who will demonstrate to demand appointments, because the educational system in Iraq is designed to produce employees working in the public sector, so appointing them is a right and a duty for the state after That implicated them in the educational system.” He continued, “If the country does not face the dangers of drought that threatens rural areas, this predicts that unemployment rates may rise to more than 5 million unemployed people within three years.”
He said: «Despite the improvement in the financial situation of the Iraqi government during the past few months, the increase in the reserves of the Central Bank to more than 70 billion dollars and the decrease in the rate of internal debts to about 50 billion dollars, as well as the decrease in external debts to 20 billion dollars, these matters did not Affect the achievement of the reform of the unemployment file in the country.”
#Unemployment #Iraq..Continuous #suffering