Unemployment in Iraq is an economic and social disaster that undermines human capability and reduces opportunities for economic growth and prosperity. Additionally, it causes shortages in the country’s social and economic structures. Moreover, it threat in Iraq has increased due to the devastation caused by the continued wars and economic embargo in the 1990s. Since the liberation process in 2003, sectarian divisions have been the main cause, which requires work to address all aspects of life to progress the economy.
“Unemployment in Iraq”
Iraq suffers from prolonged unemployment, which has worsened since 2003 under sequential governments. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the unemployment rate in Iraq has reached 1.2 million people, many of whom are graduated. Unemployment has increased significantly in Iraq since 2003. All successive governments have not found a solution to this problem, nevertheless have increased it.
“Reasons of unemployment in Iraq”
Unemployment has increased in Iraq due to the arrival of cheap goods and products that compete with domestic production. Inability of domestic products to compete with cheap imported goods, making domestic factories hopeless due to cheap goods imported from abroad.
“Unemployment in the Kurdistan Region”
In Kurdistan, unemployment has been prevalent since the civil war and even more so after 2003, which according to the latest statistics, the unemployment rate in the Kurdistan Region is (15%). This means there is an economic problem in the region called (unemployment), the rate is high compared to the normal rate, while in Iraq, and the unemployment rate is 20%.
The unemployment rate in the Kurdistan Region has increased. Those registered with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs are the only ones looking for work.
Interestingly, 35 universities are too many for a region with a population of five million and these universities have created an army of young people who do not want to work as middle cadres in the market and cannot find other jobs.
The chronic unemployment that Iraq suffers from is difficult to solve without direct and effective state intervention by legalizing the entrance of foreign workers into Iraq and ending the policy of dumping the market with imported products, and activating the economic sectors of industry, agriculture, transportation, and tourism for behalf of reducing the unemployment rate.
Furthermore, the right to reside in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region should be granted only to workers whose professions are used in the Kurdistan and Iraqi labor markets.
Investment projects should be increased in order to make more job opportunities. Local investors should be encouraged to work alongside foreign investors to promote investment in all sectors. The government should also work to provide appropriate rules and laws for the investment process in the country.
