7 October 2022; MEMO: The General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) in Iraq raised the unemployment issue in the country, with the number of those unemployed growing annually, without any solutions. They stressed that the numbers reached 6 million unemployed individuals, amid calls for the government and the concerned authorities to take responsibility for the issue.
The unemployment issue in Iraq is one of the most prominent files that have witnessed an escalation, especially in recent years, and most of the unemployed are university graduates who hold higher education degrees. Despite the promises made by successive governments to find solutions to this issue, including providing job opportunities and government appointments to reduce unemployment rates, it is to no avail.
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According to the Chairman of the GFTU, Sattar Danbous Barrak, "there are 6 million unemployed people in Iraq, and this issue does not have any government solutions", noting in a statement to the official Iraqi news channel "the unemployment crisis in the country is worsening".
He pointed out that "there are also 6 million workers in Iraq, including 650,000 registered in the Social Security Department, and that the minimum salary for a worker is only 350,000 dinars ($237.60)", adding that "no amendment has been made to the Social Security Law in 51 years, while only 10 per cent of the private sector is activated and registered within the guarantee department."
Barrak also noted that "foreign labour enters Iraq without the knowledge of the Ministry of Labour and, according to the statistics we have, the number of foreign workers in Iraq is over one million."
