Baghdad- Iraq faces challenges in providing job opportunities for youth and adults capable of working, after the population reached nearly 43 million people, according to the 2023 census issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.
The number of young people between the ages of 15-24 years who are able to join the labor market, according to the latest census for the year 2021, reached about 8 million people, while the number of adults who are able to work (25 years and above) reached approximately 17 million people. Which makes the number of people able to work close to 25 million people.
The number of Iraqi state employees reaches 4 million government employees, and the state treasury annually costs up to 62 trillion Iraqi dinars ($47.3 billion) for salaries alone, according to the financial advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Saleh.
The capital, Baghdad, and a number of governorates, witness from time to time demonstrations by graduate students to demand that job degrees be provided for them in the public sector, including graduates of the faculties of engineering, education, and the medical group, in addition to demonstrations by top students and holders of advanced degrees.
Fair distribution of job opportunities
The head of the Federal Public Service Council, which regulates public service affairs, Mahmoud Muhammad Al-Tamimi, says that job opportunities are distributed fairly among applicants, in accordance with the professional and functional standards stipulated in the laws, and aim to identify those qualified to fill jobs to achieve the strategic goals of the state and the government.
He added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the Council depends on the cooperation of a group of government institutions for the success of the employment file and achieving its desired goals, indicating that the main partners are the Ministries of Education and Finance in addition to the Office of Financial Supervision.
Regarding the pressures that the Council is exposed to to stop appointments and end the state of job sluggishness, Al-Tamimi explains that the employment file is one of the sensitive files that preoccupy the minds of citizens and those who benefit from the Council’s services, and it is “beyond the pressures that a citizen might imagine,” noting that talking about continuing employment or stopping As a result of pressure, “it is inaccurate and far from reality.”
Recruitment procedures
In the midst of the talk about reducing government appointments, Al-Tamimi stressed the importance of continuing to provide employment opportunities for graduates and holders of advanced degrees, despite what the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, announced regarding the impossibility of continuing appointments in exaggerated numbers.
It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani confirmed on September 14, 2024, that continuing the policy of appointment in the government sector is something that the state cannot bear, noting that Iraq needs diligent work to diversify the sources of the economy and overcome fluctuations in oil prices.
He explained that the procedures that the Council is currently taking to employ graduates and holders of advanced degrees are inherited from the Emergency Support Law, which included the creation of more than 74,000 job grades. He said that his government is continuing the procedures for employing graduates and holders of advanced degrees, in accordance with the mandate of the budget law.
About 43,000 job grades were targeted in the first batch of appointments, before the emergency support law was canceled after the federal general budget law was passed.
Al-Tamimi added that the clause to continue appointing holders of advanced degrees is still in place within the budget law and they are bound by it, which means that “this measure does not conflict with what the Prime Minister announced regarding reducing appointments.”
The Federal Service Council had previously announced, on July 30, 2024, the approval of the appointment of a new group of holders of advanced and first degrees.
He pointed out that this approach has been demonstrated on several occasions, which confirms the Council’s commitment to providing employment opportunities for graduates and holders of advanced degrees, despite the financial challenges facing the government.
Al-Tamimi stressed the Council’s commitment to legal controls and determinants in employment processes, noting that the only embarrassment facing the Council is the inability to meet all citizens’ requests related to employment, especially those that fall outside the legal framework.
Al-Tamimi said that the council works comfortably and calmly at the functional level, stressing that “the pressures that constituted a challenge in previous stages have been overcome thanks to the specific system that is implemented efficiently for everyone.”
He added that this system applies equally to all job applicants, which makes the embarrassment that some people imagine non-existent.
Regarding the reference to appointing more than one person from one family, Al-Tamimi explained that the data that the Council is working to process comes from educational outcomes, noting that “the Council is not responsible for what comes from the educational ministries.”
He cited as an example that there were cases in which there were more than one graduate in one family, which made their appointment justified as long as they met the legal conditions specified for employment.
Gulf experiences
On the importance of openness to global experiences, especially the Arab experiences surrounding Iraq, Al-Tamimi stressed that the common legislative source of the group of Arab countries makes the legal systems in these countries closer to the legal systems in force in Iraq.
Al-Tamimi said that the Council implemented a number of meetings and agreements with its counterparts in Egypt and Jordan, which included signing memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the fields of public service and government administration, with a focus on developing practical programs and their effective implementation.
He stressed that the Council seeks to benefit from the expertise of counterpart agencies in the Arab region in general, and in the Gulf region and the Middle East in particular, with a focus on improving government performance and enhancing services provided to citizens.
bureaucracy
Graduate Reda Muhammad Ali Jaafar, who was unable to get a job despite his repeated requests, says that the severe bureaucracy in which state institutions operate in general, in addition to the lack of cooperation from other partners, was the main factor in obstructing the work of the Service Council.
Jaafar added in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that this bureaucracy prevented many eligible people from obtaining their benefits, which negatively affected their professional and personal lives.
He points out that many applicants for government jobs were delayed for more than two years in obtaining appointment opportunities, due to the obstacles caused by this bureaucracy and the lack of cooperation from the concerned authorities.
Jaafar explains that the conditions of the Customs Affairs Committee were an important factor in complicating the work of the Service Council, as strict conditions were set for appointment, the most prominent of which is that the appointment be according to precise job needs.
He says that this condition, in addition to the lack of cooperation between ministries and government agencies in determining their actual need, led to the delay of some appointments and the complexity of the recruitment process in general.
For his part, graduate Wael Abdel Karim believes that the Service Council has achieved tangible successes in organizing the recruitment process and distributing jobs according to precise specializations.
He confirmed, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that this step was tantamount to saving the state from random appointments and job laxity in its institutions.
