Citizens chafe under rising unemployment

For Abbas Mohamed al-Sakri, the 20 years he spent studying Arabic literature was “a big mistake” because he remains unable to get a job with his degree. “For the past three years, I sent dozens of job applications to government ministries,” said the 28-year-old al-Sakri. “But all were in vain. Members of influential political and religious parties are given preference, even though they aren’t qualified.” According to Mohamed Taha al-Mousawi, an adviser at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the national unemployment rate surpassed 60 percent last year. “And the rate rose further in the first quarter of this year, as many policemen and army members quit their jobs due to threats by militants groups,” al-Mousawi said. He added that his ministry had no plans to promote employment until the security situation had improved. Iraq’s high unemployment rate was also recently acknowledged by the First Lady. Speaking at an international conference devoted to women in business in London on 23 May, the wife of President Jalal Talabani stressed that high unemployment levels made disaffected youths easy targets for recruitment by extremists. Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, a respected businesswoman and founder of the Kurdistan Women's Union, agreed. She warned that joblessness could be expected to increase further, especially in central and southern Iraq. “Unemployment levels have exceeded all limits,” she said. Locals, meanwhile, especially those with big families, complain bitterly about job scarcity. “I can work only two or three days a week due to the huge labour pool,” said Ahmed Fiza'a, a 25-year-old day labourer, as he stood amid a group of about 100 workers in Baghdad's northern Kazimiyah district. “I earn about US $8 a day, and I'm the eldest in an eight-member family...I have to feed them all.” Last month, a top US General in Iraq said that the only way to defeat the insurgency and bring stability to the country was by boosting the economy and creating hope among disaffected young people. “A prosperous Iraq will be a peaceful Iraq,” said Lt. Gen. Pete Chiarelli, commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq. “By creating jobs and opportunity, the government would take away a major source of support for violent movements.” In the meantime, 28-year-old Omar Salah Jassim has despaired of government promises, deciding instead to earn his living selling cigarettes from a wooden stall in a bustling bus station in Baghdad. “Earning about US $10 a day this way is better than begging at the government's door,” said Jassim, who holds a degree from Baghdad's University’s education faculty. SM/AR/AM